


What Comes Next?

by andyandnormski



Series: This Heart of Mine [1]
Category: What We Do in the Shadows (TV)
Genre: Angst, Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Foreshadowing, Hurt/Comfort, Illnesses, M/M, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Season 2, Slow Burn, Vampiric Council, spanish from a non-native speaker
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:00:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 47,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24913504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andyandnormski/pseuds/andyandnormski
Summary: Guillermo, Nandor and the vampires have to navigate the fallout of what would come to be known as the Nouveau Théâtre des Vampires Massacre. A figure from Nandor's past returns and unbeknownst to all, a storm is brewing on the horizon that could shape up to threaten everything they have.
Relationships: Guillermo/Nandor the Relentless (What We Do in the Shadows TV), Laszlo Cravensworth/Nadja
Series: This Heart of Mine [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1802827
Comments: 64
Kudos: 144





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is, my first dive back into writing fanfiction in almost 12 years. I'm still planning the overall plot but this is going to be a multi-chaptered fic in at least a two part series. 
> 
> Enjoy!

_“My name is Guillermo de la Cruz.”_

_“Don’t care what the fuck your name is. We had to pick up our own laundry!”_

The theatre surrounding Guillermo was in absolute anarchy, albeit it was silent now. Nearly all of the chairs had been overturned. He could see a few of his stakes, those that had missed their targets, lying amongst the bodies that positively littered the space. And the bodies, they were everywhere, on the floor, under the chairs, hanging _over_ the chairs. Guillermo had lost track of how many vampires he had killed during the fight and, quite frankly, he didn’t want to know the body count. 

His master’s - no, Nandor’s complaints about the laundry finally broke something in him. The glare he had been giving them vanished and a scoff, followed by a hysterical giggle came forth from his lips. 

“Seriously?” He sputtered at the end of a laugh. “That’s what’s important here? You guys were almost publicly executed but no, laundry is what takes priority.” He picked his way around the bodies as he spoke, making his way towards the stage and giving a glance to Camera 2, who looked scared shitless. 

“You should probably go. There might be more on the way.” Half of the camera crew didn’t need to be told twice, hightailing it for the nearest exit. The boom mike operator nearly tripped over a corpse in their dash for the door. 

“You sure, man?” Camera 2 hesitated, looking between Guillermo and the rest of his crew, watching them disappear out the door they had entered through. 

“Yeah, I- just go. I’ll be fine.” He wasn’t sure if he really believed his own words. Would he be fine? He had just doubled his kill count of vampires, maybe more, and cutting through them had come all too naturally to him. It had been as easy as breathing and that disturbed him, sending a chill up his spine. This had been part of the reason why he had left the house in the first place. And now here he was, about to try and herd his vampires out of the theatre turned slaughterhouse without too much hassle. 

It was only after the last of the crew had gone that he made his way to the stage again, sheathing the crucifix silver knuckles out of view. 

“Is anybody hurt? Everyone okay?”

The words had barely left his lips and Guillermo was suddenly bombarded by a chorus of three voices, all shouting and asking questions at once.

“What in the sam hill just happened?!” 

“I can’t believe...first those bloody witches and now this?”

“Gizmo, exactly what have you been hiding from us?!”

Guillermo could feel his eye twitch at the shouting and seemingly endless stream of questions being flung his way, not that he could really blame them. He knew they had come here expecting a pleasant night at the theatre, surrounded by the high society of the vampiric world. What they had gotten instead was a kangaroo court. As much as he wanted to be angry at them for being so oblivious, he just couldn’t work up the energy to be angry, not when he could hear the shock lacing their voices and especially not at the slightly catatonic expression on Nandor’s face. Other than the laundry complaint, Nandor was uncomfortably silent, just staring out at the carnage surrounding him and only looking up once Guillermo finally stood in front of him. 

“You’re going to start explaining yourself, lad,” Laszlo nearly hissed. “What have you been up to? Just how long-”

“Oh, come off it, Laszlo! He did just save our lives.”

“I know that, my darling, but I don’t give two shits until Gizmo explains-”

That was all Guillermo could take. Of course Laszlo would be the one to give him the most grief over this. He remembered the night Laszlo had given him such a hard time over the garden stakes that _he_ had been asked to buy and he felt his eye twitch again. 

“ENOUGH!” Guillermo shouted so loud he felt his voice crack. It echoed throughout the theatre but it got his point across, stopping what was sure to have been a rant from Laszlo in its tracks. 

“Look, we need to go. We need to get out of here before more show up. That one from the council got away and I want to be out of here if he comes back because I’m not doing _that_ again!” Guillermo felt his voice hitch. He was still holding his last stake and brandished it around the theatre, immediately regretting it. They all flinched but Nandor’s reaction was the worst of them all. Nandor shrank back in the chair and his expression made Guillermo’s heart sink. It was a look of uncertainty, of shock, and worst of all, fear.

 _He’s afraid of you,_ Guillermo couldn’t help but think. _They all are but Nandor is scared of you. You're a killer of the very thing you idolize. A monster._

He quickly sheathed the stake and shook his head, wanting these intrusive thoughts out of his mind. He stammered out an apology. “I- I’m sorry. I didn’t realize-”

“I should fucking think not, Gizmo! Don’t wave those wretched things around!”

“Laszlo!” Nadja scolded. She rolled her eyes at her husband and looked over at Guillermo. If she could have smacked Laszlo’s arm, she probably would have. “Guillermo, untie me so I can squeeze some sense into that thimble of a brain Lazlo has!”

Guillermo blinked at Nadja, at a loss for words. He couldn’t figure out what was more surprising right now, the fact that Nadja had pronounced his name right or that it almost sounded like she was defending him.

“Guillermo?” 

Nadja’s voice grabbed his attention again and he shook his head, fatigue slowly beginning to creep in. The adrenaline from the fight was wearing off and it was wearing off quickly. They needed to leave this place while they still had a clear getaway.

“Right. Hold on, give me a second.” One by one, Guillermo went down the line of chairs, untying the silver ropes that were binding his vampires to the chairs, reaching Nandor last. He watched with some amusement when everyone kicked their ropes away from themselves the moment they were free, everyone but Nandor who stood slowly. Guillermo felt a lump form in the back of his throat at the sight of Nandor rubbing at the exposed skin around his wrists, clearly visible burn marks wrapped around them. Guilt swelled up inside of him. He should have been here.

“So...thanks for that, Guillermo.” Colin gave Guillermo what looked to be a genuine smile. “Boy howdy, you were in tip top form tonight, with your stake throwing and sprinkler of death. You really went full Buffy on these bad boys. And gals.”

“Colin Robinson, please, not now,” Guillermo sighed, not wanting to deal with Colin feeding on the tense energy that filled the theatre.

“Hey, you’ll get nothing from me tonight.” He held up his hands in a show of innocence. “I know better. We’re already in a bit of a pickle so why don’t we make like a herd of sheep and get the flock out of here.” Guillermo shot him a withering look. “Alrighty, got it, no sheep puns.”

“Look, can we just go? Please? You can make terrible puns in the car.”

“Roger dodger, Guillermo.” Colin grinned, giving him two thumbs up.

Guillermo sighed and went to pick up his fallen machete, Nadja now quietly scolding Colin for making jokes during a time like this. No one spoke much as they filed out through the side entrance, although Guillermo suspected it wouldn’t be long until the questions started again. Sure enough, the questions returned not long after the door had closed. Nadja cleared her throat and Guillermo stopped just outside the passenger door of the car.

“Guillermo? How did you get inside? And on the stage? There were no other entrances that I could see.” 

He glanced over his shoulder at Nadja. She had one of Laszlo’s hands clutched within her own, looking a little more worse for wear than she had just a few short moments ago. And, now that he took a good look at them, they all did, even with Colin flashing him a brief reassuring grin. 

“The roof.” Guillermo received confused stares in response so he added, “That side door was locked so I climbed up the gutter to get on the roof. Figured there was a door up there and there was so...that’s how.”

Nadja opened and closed her mouth a few times, then nodded at Guillermo. “Impressive. I wasn’t aware you could do that.” 

He nodded his thanks at Nadja, fished the car keys out of his pockets and tossed them at Colin. “You’re driving so I can keep an eye out for trouble. Can you drive us to a hotel?”

“Aye aye, cap-”

“Now hang on a second!” Laszlo cut Colin off, who muttered a barely audible “rude” under his breath. “Why a hotel?”

Guillermo felt the urge to take his glasses off and rub his eyes. “Because I don’t think the house is really the safest place to be. At least not for tonight.”

“So you mean to tell us that we cannot return to our own home? You may have a set of steel balls on you, lad, killing vampires the way that you did. I can respect what you did for us tonight but you cannot keep us from going home. It’s _our_ house, not yours.”

“Laszlo.” Nandor spoke up for the first time since the chaos started. If Guillermo didn’t know any better, he could have sworn Nandor was glaring at Laszlo but it disappeared as quickly as Guillermo had spotted it. “Let him speak.”

A glimmer of hope sparked in his chest at Nandor's words but the moment they made eye contact, Nandor quickly looked away from Guillermo, his face unreadable. He was lingering at the edge of the group, standing the furthest away from Guillermo, his eyes looking anywhere but at him.

“Thank you, mas-” He caught himself, hoping none of them caught his near slip up, and his next words caught in his throat. Laszlo’s words stung more than he wanted to admit. How could the house not be a second home to him? He had spent 11 years of his life, living and working there despite never once getting a word of appreciation from anyone, apart from the rare occasion from Nandor.

“I just don’t think it’s safe. We could walk right into another trap. You don’t think the council won’t send one of their assassins to the house tonight? Because I do. They’ve been sending assassins to the house for _months_ and they keep getting inside.” 

He hadn’t realized his explanation had delved into a small rant but it had. A small disbelieving scoff from Laszlo fueled him on, his voice growing more agitated with each passing sentence. “Look, I don’t know how but they are so forgive me for not wanting to fight them again tonight. We’re going to the hotel because it’s safer there. The house isn’t secure, whether you like it or not. There’s only gonna be one entrance with a hotel. And if you don’t like this, fuck, I don’t care right now. I’m tired and I want to get out of the open, unless you have a better plan, then I’d love to hear it!” He finished with an exaggerated outstretched wave of his arm at Laszlo, waiting for some kind of smartass response from him. 

Judging from the lack of response, he had effectively stunned Laszlo into silence. Laszlo was no longer openly glaring at Guillermo, giving him a sort of ruminative look instead, a few seconds passing before giving Guillermo a nod.

“Well if that is indeed the case, which it might be. I'm not saying you're lying-,” Laszlo added rather hurriedly after seeing the darkening look in Guillermo’s eyes, “-than Colin Robinson was right earlier. I believe thanks are in order.” He gave Guillermo a second nod, Nadja nodding along with him.

“Thanks. Just...get in the car. Please.” 

Guillermo didn’t wait for a response and flung open the front passenger door, throwing himself down into the seat and kicking his duffle bag down to the floor. Laszlo’s apology would have to do for now. The vampires followed suit, climbing into the car, Colin in the driver’s seat. As they pulled out of the alleyway and headed down the street, Colin broke the silence.

“You know, I don’t think they were going for a Hamilton vibe after all. It was definitely more of a Les Misérables vibe. You know, with the guillotine and all.” 

Annoyed sighs and groans came from the backseat and Guillermo never wanted to smack his head onto the dashboard more than he did in that moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos are always appreciated! If you spot a typo, please let me know. I don't always catch them.
> 
> Shout out goes to Jackie_Daytona for helping me work up the nerve to post this. Thank you so much for the advice! <3
> 
> Edited to fix Laszlo's name. My google docs kept changing it on my and I never noticed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Explanations are given at the hotel. Colin makes a realization and a new figure enters the scene.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ended up being a lot longer than I had planned. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter though! Thank you so much to everyone who left kudos and comments on the previous chapter!!

The ride to the hotel had been, for the most part, uneventful, not that Guillermo had minded. Colin had attempted to strike up a conversation more than once. Whether or not it had been to feed on the palpable apprehensive atmosphere in the car, Guillermo couldn’t tell but it had seemed like an honest aim to lighten everyone’s mood. 

They had found a place far enough from the theatre but still close enough to the house should they need to make a hasty return to it. The hotel was the kind that didn’t have the usual lobby and long hallways, just a small office and each room with a door that led straight to the outside. It was exactly what they needed. Colin had booked two rooms after brief bickering had broken out over having a two bed situation between the five of them. Nandor had been the one to end it, quietly muttering from the backseat that Guillermo would in fact not be sleeping in a chair, since he had saved them and all. Room keys were divided up, with Laszlo, Nadja and Colin to a room, Nandor and Guillermo to the other.

Now, Guilermo found himself hiding in the bathroom, trying in vain to clean up his blood soaked clothes and delaying the inevitable explanation he would have to give tonight. He seriously had doubts if any of the vampires would let it wait until the following night. Not only that, he had discovered that he hadn’t escaped the theatre fight entirely unscathed. Three long scratches ran down his right side, probably from when the three council guards had tried to overwhelm him. Since he had been drenched in blood, he hadn’t noticed the injury, nor felt it much until he had peeled his shirt away. He had his mostly untouched shirt sleeves acting as makeshift bandages. They would have to do for now until he could get back to the house in the morning. 

He furiously scrubbed at his coat, trying hard not to have a breakdown while the others were on the other side of the bathroom door. They were in such deep trouble. The council would retaliate at some point. Guillermo did not see any outcome where they let this go, not after what he had done tonight. Before, he had little to no problem killing the assassins or defending Shanice and the other mosquito club members. It was just something that had to be done but now, killing vampires felt different. He knew not everyone at the theatre had been an enemy. Yes, he had killed a fair number of guards but he knew he had killed bystanders too, possibly innocents, their fancy clothes still fresh in his mind’s eye as he pictured their slumped over bodies as if they were still surrounding him. He had only spared one vampire, the one that had been dressed like him. But anyone else, he killed attackers and bystanders alike. In the heat of the moment, any vampire that had come too close to him ended up being fair game for a stake being thrown their way. It made him sick to his stomach that he had done it without thinking, without even trying to figure out a bystander from a foe. 

_Yeah_ , Guillermo thought to himself as he scrubbed at a particular stubborn bloodstain. _We’re so screwed._

A soft knock broke him out of his thoughts and his head snapped towards the door. “Hey hey.” Colin’s muffled and all too cheery voice came through the door. “You still alive in there, Guillermo?”

“Y-Yeah!” He felt his voice crack and he cleared his throat. “Yeah, just give me a minute, okay?”

“Right. Well, come out of there whenever you’re done beating your bloody clothes into submission. We’ve got something for you out here.”

“Yeah, sure.” They had something for him? He hadn’t heard them leave the room the entire time he had been holed up here. What could they possibly have found?

Not wanting to give that idea too much thought, Guillermo threw his wet coat back down into the bathtub, where it joined his shirt and sweater vest. His clothes were not clean by any means but there was nothing else he could do except let them soak in the tub until he went to sleep. He grabbed the terry cloth bathrobe from where it sat on the toilet. It was the only thing that wasn’t bloodsoaked and it would hide his injury well enough.

Taking a deep breath, Guillermo got to his feet and reached for the doorknob, hesitating for a moment before opening the door, four heads turning to look at him. One bed was occupied by his duffle bag and ridiculous collection of weapons but the other had been taken over by Nadja and Laszlo. The pair sat beside each other on the edge of the bed, with Nadja holding one of Laszlo’s hands. Nandor was seated in the armchair near the window and locked eyes with Guillermo for a split second before he looked away, going back to staring out the window through a thin crack in the curtains. Holding back a sigh, Guillermo looked to the last occupant in the room, Colin, who was seated at the small table. A small white bag with a familiar looking panda logo sat on the table alongside a water bottle. 

Guillermo gestured at the bag. “What is that?”

“What’s it look like, boy?” Laszlo sighed tiredly. “It’s certainly not for any of us.”

“I know what it is. I meant when did it get here? I didn’t hear any of you leave.”

“We did no such thing.” Laszlo jerked a thumb in Colin’s direction. “Colin Robinson called a package courier on his cellular telephone. Remarkably prompt service, too.” 

Colin looked over at Guillermo. “Yeah, I just used DoorDash. The place is only five minutes away.” He pulled out his phone, flicking open the app. “See, I told them ‘we’re at the Super 8 hotel, please put the bag outside room #12 and text only. Don’t call, thank y-”

Guillermo cut Colin off before he could launch into too much detail. “Nope. No, please stop, Colin Robinson. I’m really not in the mood.” He walked over to the table, sank into the other chair and pulled the bag towards him, cracking open the water bottle. After taking one look at his meal, his stomach gave an audible growl. The dinner his mother had made that night seemed like a lifetime ago now. “This is...actually really thoughtful of you guys.”

“You can thank Nandor,” Colin added. “It was his idea. He insisted, really.” 

Guillermo looked up from his food, chopsticks halfway to his mouth, and looked over at Nandor, who still refused to look anywhere else but out the window. “I-...thank you.” All Nandor did in response was give a curt nod of his head. 

The vampires were silent as Guillermo ate his meal and when he was done, he polished off the last of the bottled water, clearing his throat. “So….I’m guessing you guys are waiting for some kind of explanation from me? About tonight?” Guillermo glanced between each of them, getting various forms of agreement. “Alright, what...where should I start?”

“Well,” Nadja quietly spoke. “The Vampiric Council seems to believe we killed some sentry of theirs. Why? I haven’t the slightest idea. So start there, from that night at the council.”

And so he did. With a deep breath, Guillermo launched into one of the few times the vampires let him speak nearly uninterrupted. He began with that night the council had summoned them, over a year ago now, and told them about everything that had been part of the so-called reenactment. How the council’s guard, Ludwig, had attacked him unprovoked and backed up straight into the broken LED wall sconce. He explained that the council had been sending assassins to the house ever since that night and a few of them somehow managed to find a way into the house during the day, prompting a look of sudden understanding from Laszlo about why Guillermo was so leary of going back to the house tonight. From there, he spoke of the Mosquito Collector’s Club, how he had stumbled across them by accident in his search for virgins and discovered they were after the vampire who had turned Jenna. His attempts to infiltrate the club and deter them from the house had gone south in a hurry, resulting in the shitshow that had happened at the Hustler’s house, leading to the deaths of Derek and five vampires. He had acquired the vast majority of his gear from them, figuring he could use it against any further assassins since the club had quietly given up their efforts immediately upon Derek’s death. 

“I only found you guys by accident. I’ve been staying with my mom-” 

“You have a mother around? Since when?” Laszlo quietly interrupted, earning him a quick elbow in the ribs from Nadja. 

Guillermo ignored the intrusion and continued. “Her fridge broke earlier today. That’s why I had gone back to the house. All I went for was Topher’s mini fridge and your doll - that thing can talk by the way, which is really creepy -” He added, looking at Nadja, “it told me where you went. I thought the invitation was really well made but when I took a closer look at it, the Vampiric Council’s insignia was on it, right in the middle. You could see it if you held it up to the light.” He heaved out a heavy sigh and kept going, fiddling with the empty water bottle’s label as he spoke. If he stopped now, he knew he would clam up from nerves and that would be the end of it. 

“Anyways, it’s been me. All of it. Everything the council blamed you for, it was all me. The first two times, those were an honest accident but the rest, I only did it to protect you guys. If something happened, I…” He trailed off, unsure of what to say but an unspoken “I wouldn’t know what to do next” hung in the air. And it was true. He truthfully didn’t know how he would have reacted if he had been too late or had found out about the council’s plans days after the fact. 

“Guillermo?” Nandor had not spoken since Guillermo had disappeared into the bathroom over an hour ago. His voice was hushed, in a sort of cautious tone Guillermo had rarely heard him use before. “Why didn’t you tell us this was happening?”

 _“I tried!”_ He nearly shouted then, watching everyone flinch when he felt his voice hitch a few octaves and he felt guilt wash over him again, just as it had earlier that night when he had brandished that stake. Still, he had to get the point across to them. Taking a deep breath, he pressed on. “I tried to tell you, back when I also tried to tell you Topher was a zombie. But you didn’t listen. You didn’t listen to me about Topher when I ended up being right so why would I have thought anything different would have happened? I didn’t push it that night because, let’s face it, none of you would have believed me then.”

“We believe you now.”

“That’s not the point, Nadja!” Guillermo argued. “It took a near public execution for you to believe me. Do you see how that might be a problem?” 

“I- alright, you have a point” Nadja stammered, then fell silent for a moment, contemplating her next words. Her boys, plus Colin Robinson, didn’t say a word and she let out a tired huff. “Well if none of you pillocks are going to say it first, I will. Thank you, Guillermo.” That was twice tonight she had pronounced his name correctly. 

“My darling wife is right,” Laszlo quietly agreed. “Now, I never thought you had it in you to harm even a fly but after tonight, what you did for us, I can’t remember a single familiar we’ve had that would have stuck their neck out for us as you have. You, my boy, have a massive fucking pair of steel balls on you.” 

Now it was Guillermo’s turn to give Lasszlo a confused look. “That might be the strangest compliment I’ve ever gotten but I’ll take it, I guess.” Now that the truth was out in the open, he took a moment to pause and rub his temples with his fingers. He could feel a headache coming on, the stress and exhaustion from the night starting to become a bit much to deal with, and the scratches on his side ached. All he wanted was to crawl into bed and forget about everything for a few short hours.

"Hey, uh...I had a thought and we might have a problem.”

"No, really? We had no idea, Colin Robinson!" Nadja spat, now plainly annoyed. "We're all fucked up a river without an oar. Even Guillermo is!"

"That's not what I meant." Colin turned to look at Guillermo. He was surprised by the rather concerned look Colin was giving him. It wasn’t often that he appeared to be anything but his usual chipper self. “That Brady Bunch family, you said you killed five of them, right?”

“Yeah, I did. I mean, I think it was only five. I’m not really sure. Everything went so wrong so fast.” 

“But you didn’t kill all of them?”

“Oh, hell no.” He nearly chuckled, shaking his head. “No, there were tons of them in that house. Way more than what you guys saw on stage, like at least ten more.”

“Then why did Mr. Red Velvet Cake guy say they’re all dead?”

At this, Guillermo froze, thinking back to that night. He hadn’t killed more than five. He knew it and he was sure Shanice, Tonya and Claude hadn’t gone back to the house. Even if they had wanted to, he doubted they could have gone back without their supplies, all of which were now lying on the bed in this very hotel room. 

“Don’t be absurd, Colin Robinson,” scoffed Laszlo but the tone of unease in his voice told another story. “The council was lying or they embellished the facts a little.”

“Hey, everything else they said was true. Just switch out our names with Guillermo’s,” Colin pointed out. “Why would they lie about that?”

“They wouldn’t.” Nandor’s hushed voice interjected into Colin and Lazlo’s brief debate, prompting them to fall silent and give Nandor their attention. Nandor was no longer gazing out the window but was now staring at a fixed point on the wall opposite to him, deep in thought. “If the council said that family is gone, then they’re gone. There’s no use lying about that.” For the first time that night, Nandor finally looked at Guillermo and didn’t look away, making full eye contact with him, a dour expression plastered all over his face. “You didn’t kill them. Someone else did it after you left.”

Silence hung heavily in the air, so thick that the passing cars from outside could be heard. With a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, Guillermo realized Nandor was right. It was the only concrete explanation, unless the council really was lying just to name a scapegoat for the remaining deaths, but somehow that notion didn’t feel right. He could feel dread creeping up and a chill ran down his spine. 

“This is a problem for another night.” Nandor may have acted as a silent shadow for much of the night, lingering on the fringes of their little group and ignoring each of them (especially Guillermo) unless called upon, but now he had slipped back into his role as the de facto head of the house. “There’s nothing we can do from here. It’s best we all get some rest. You too, Guillermo,” Nandor added after a slight pause. 

One by one, the vampires - apart from Nandor - gathered up whatever they had brought with them, picked up discarded capes and jackets, then shuffled towards the door. Laszlo hesitated with his hand on the doorknob, turning back to Guillermo.

“One more question, Gizmo. How are you so, I guess you can say, good at killing vampires?”

While Guillermo had confessed to a number of things in the last hour, he still had not told them the truth concerning his heritage, that he was a potential descendant of Van Helsing. His vampires may have accepted the idea that he could indeed fight if the situation required it but he wasn’t so sure they would accept a Van Helsing living under their roof. A corner of his mind was still convinced that if they knew, they would kill him for certain, no questions asked. It very well may not be true but the fear that his vampires - dare he say his friends - would turn on him once they knew the truth was still there and it terrified him. 

_You have to tell them the truth_ , Guillermo thought to himself, his headache pounding to where he swore could feel his heart thudding in his chest and he feared it would give him away. _They already know you’re a killer. What’s the worst that could happen? You need to tell them the truth._

“I don’t know,” Guillermo lied through his teeth. “I really don’t know. I wish I did.”

* * *

Elsewhere in New York City, miles away from Guillermo de la Cruz and his flock of vampires, a lone figure stood before a roaring fireplace, leaning against the mantle and gazing out a window overlooking Manhattan. The man held a wine glass in one hand, swirling a liquid that suspiciously did not resemble wine within it. He was lost in thought as he watched the skyline and idly sipped his drink, glancing at the clock placed on the mantle. The time read 2:24 a.m. Tonight’s “performance” at the Nouveau Théâtre des Vampires should have reached its conclusion hours ago and yet here he was, still waiting for word that the council’s mission had been successful. With any luck, it would have been. There would be one less hindrance in his path and his plans could continue uninterrupted. 

A knock at the door echoed throughout the dimly lit room. _Finally_ , he calmly thought to himself and called out a clear “Enter.” Another man stepped into the room, shrouded mostly in shadows as the only source of light in the room came from either the fireplace or the window. 

“What news do you bring me, Gareth?”

“Sir,” Gareth answered, inclining his head slightly in a show of respect. “I regret to tell you this but -”

“Out with it!” he barked. “Are they dead or not?” 

“I’m afraid not, sir. The council’s plan, it failed. It would have worked if not for that one familiar. He helped them escape but there were some...unfortunate casualties. The familiar killed 23 vampires at the very least but it looks like more than 30 are dead -”

Gareth’s report was cut short as the now empty wine glass was slammed down hard on the surface of the mantle. Fury rolled off the room’s other occupant in waves.

“Get out!” the man all but shouted and Gareth didn’t need to be told twice. He dipped his head down low and hurriedly backed out of the room, swinging the door closed behind him. 

So his suspicions had been correct after all. The familiar was a vampire slayer, more than likely the very one that had been the mysterious thorn in his side all this time. This news had certainly thrown a wrench into the works. No doubt the council would be convened in the coming weeks and he would hear from Tilda again. 

_Perhaps now she’ll listen to what I have to say_ , he mused to himself. He left the wine glass at the mantle, switching on the light to an antique lamp and sat down at his desk, pulling a sheet of paper from a small stack. Picking up his quill, he set about the task of reaching out to his other contacts outside the Vampiric Council. No matter, he would work to solve this. A new line had been thrown into the equation but it was just a human. A rather capable and deadly one but still a human nonetheless. And if his speculations were correct, this was a familiar that a certain vampire cared a great deal for. That was something he could exploit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So in episode 2x10, I thought it was a bit weird Vladislav said the entire 80s vampire family was dead when Guillermo definitely didn't kill all of them. I'm kind of taking that one line and running with it. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! <3


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guillermo pays a visit to the witches. Nandor finds Guillermo's note and has time to think on the events at the theatre.

The silence of the early morning was broken by a high-pitched beeping, the insistent sound filling the room. Groaning softly, Guillermo rolled over in bed, reaching out towards the nightstand and fumbling with the alarm clock until it fell silent. Getting out of bed was the last thing he wanted to do. He was still tired from the ordeal at the theatre. His whole body was sore and his side in particular was dully throbbing. Still, if he wanted to leave the room and not risk letting sunlight in, then he had to get moving. 

With a resigned sigh, he climbed out of bed, leaving the warmth of the blankets behind and tiptoed across the room to the bathroom. The red glow from the digital clock was the only light source filling the room. He didn’t dare turn on a lamp and risk waking Nandor, not after the tense silence that had been left in the wake of last night’s realization. Even so, Guillermo couldn’t help but steal a glance at his former master sleeping on the other bed. He could barely see the dark outline of Nandor’s body curled up on the bed facing the window, seemingly still fast asleep and Guillermo partially wished he would stay that way for now. His plans for today would more than likely be ones his vampires might disagree with and he didn’t want to waste time arguing over the nitty gritty details when every minute counted towards protecting the house. 

Ducking into the bathroom, he quickly went about pulling his clothes back on. They were dry now and, for some reason, a little less bloodstained than they had been when he had hung them up to dry. 

_Maybe Nandor..._ Guillermo thought to himself, then shook his head and pulled his coat on. No, Nandor had claimed the other bed shortly after the others had left for their room, saying very little to Guillermo for the rest of the night other than he should get his rest. There was no way Nandor had slipped into the bathroom to clean his clothes. He would have heard him...right?

Putting the thought out of his mind for now, he left the bathroom and grabbed his duffel bag, but not before pulling out four stakes and laying them on the table along with a note scribbled across a notepad. 

_Gone to the house; left weapons for you guys. I’ll be back before nightfall. My phone number is xxx-xxx-xxxx. - Guillermo_

Guillermo had nearly walked out the door, hesitating at seeing Nandor now that he was close enough to see him more clearly. Nandor was curled up on his side, the blankets pushed down to just below his hips. His fancy clothes lay in a pile on the nearby armchair with his boots sitting on the floor, leaving Nandor in only his pants and usual flowing white blouse.

 _I wonder if he’s cold at all._ The fleeting thought ran through his mind, one that often did during the winter months when his vampires would complain about the house feeling chilled. Without a second thought, Guillermo quietly set down his bag and crept over to the bed. He lifted up the blankets as gently as he could and pulled them up to cover Nandor, leaving them just at the edge of his shoulders. With the trace of a small smile on his face, he slung his bag over his shoulder and slipped out the door into the frigid early morning air. What Guillermo didn’t notice was a pair of brown eyes watching him as he left.

* * *

Traffic in downtown Brooklyn was hell that morning. The roads were slick with ice, he had passed two accidents before leaving Staten Island and the bridge had been in near gridlock. Guillermo was already feeling tired by the time he had parked the car. It wasn’t quite 9 a.m. yet and he still had to swing by the house later. 

Some back corner of his mind kept telling him that he shouldn’t be doing this, that he should go back to his childhood home and forget about last night. He wasn’t a familiar anymore nor were Nandor and the others his responsibility now. So why should he continue protecting vampires who, for 11 years, had been unappreciative of him? He should get back in the car and go home. Why should he care what happens to them when their first response to a near death experience had been to bitch about the laundry? 

He stopped on the opposite side of the street to the Satchel Serafina, standing beneath a streetlight. _But you do care,_ he couldn’t help but think. _You wouldn’t have risked your life and swung in guns blazing to save them if you didn’t care just a little._

Despite himself and every moment of grief the vampires had given him over the last few months alone, he couldn’t find it in himself to walk away and pretend that things would work themselves out. Not this time. Deep down he just knew things wouldn’t end well if he did a runner. His vampires would be a target again within the month, not to mention he himself was almost certainly a target as well. And really, he didn’t have anywhere else to go. He couldn’t return to his mother’s home and risk bringing danger to her doorstep, not until this situation was resolved one way or another. He would have to see this through to the end. 

_You can do this._ Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself for what he was about to negotiate for and strode into the shop, the little bell above the door announcing his arrival. At the moment, the place was empty of customers but that didn’t surprise him. It was still early in the day. 

“I’ll be with you in a moment!” A muffled voice called from the back room, one that Guillermo recognized. Lilith was here, exactly the person he wanted to speak to. 

He wandered around the shop, glancing through the books while he waited. It had been a few weeks since he had last been here, nearly pushing a month. The place looked the same as usual, the shelves lined with salt lamps, varying crystals and dried herbs, books, candles and other supplies that were quintessential to a metaphysical store. It hadn’t taken long for Guillermo to discover that the shop wasn’t truly a front, as Nadja had insisted to the entire household during their return trip home. True, rituals and magnet making did happen in the basement but the store was an honest business. Lilith and her coven ran it as a way to reach out to witches of every kind all over the city. It was a place for people to come find the supplies they needed, a place to find research and, as he had quickly learned, a haven to some. The shop was always calm and welcomed everyone, not just witches. During his last delivery, he had met a werewolf browsing through the herbs and he could have sworn he had seen someone that looked like a zombie leave out the back door. It was a nice place and he enjoyed coming here.

“Guillermo?”

Hearing his name, Guillermo turned around to see Lilith walking out from behind the counter, looking surprised to see him. He tried to squash down the anxiety he had felt trying to claw its way into him all morning and flashed Lilith a smile, hoping it didn’t look as forced as it felt. “Hi Lilith.”

“Guillermo!” Lilith was beaming at him from ear to ear and walked over with her arms outstretched, wrapping Guillermo up in a brief hug that he returned half-heartedly. “It’s been too long since we’ve seen you! Where have you been?” She pulled away from him, her hands resting on his shoulders, and her smile fell away at seeing another forced smile from him. “Dear, what’s wrong? Has something happened?”

“You could say that.” He felt himself taking in a few shaky, shallow breaths. “I need to talk to you. We’re in trouble, serious trouble. The Vampiric Council-”

Lilith quietly hushed him before he could get any further. She wrapped an arm across his shoulders and gently steered him towards the curtain covered doorway that read _Employees Only._ “Come, I’ll make you a cup of tea and you can tell me what happened. Do they know you’re here? Nadja and the others?”

He shook his head and let Lilith guide him past a series of rooms. “No, they think I’m back at the house. I left them a note and came straight here. We had to spend the night at a hotel.”

“Have you eaten this morning?” Again, he shook his head and Lilith sighed, ushering him into a seating area just outside of a small kitchenette and pulled a chair out for him. “Right, have a seat and I’ll bring you something to eat.”

He nodded mutely and watched Lilith disappear back down the hallway, vaguely listening to her calling out to Tessa and Quinn to watch the store but he wasn’t fully paying attention. His thoughts kept wanting to drift back to the hotel where his vampires were, wondering if they were safe, if they had read his notes yet. He had slipped a second note under the door to the other room, that way each of them had his phone number should they need it, although it would only be of use to Colin. None of the others had a cell phone and he hadn’t checked to see if the rooms had their own phone. 

A tray was set down in front of him before too long, loaded with a pot of tea and two cups, a plate of muffins and a bowl of assorted fruit. Lilith sat opposite to him at the table and poured their drinks. “I brewed up some chamomile tea. You seemed tense but I can’t say I blame you if you’re dealing with that pompous council.”

“You know about them? The Vampiric Council, I mean?” He reached for his tea and a chocolate muffin.

Lilith scoffed quietly. “Who doesn’t? Werewolf, ghoul, witch, warlock. Anyone worth their salt knows about them. They’re patronizing, elitist vampires, the lot of them. All they care about is appearances and their ridiculous set of rules. But what I don't get is why you would be mixed up with them in the first place?"

Guillermo sighed, not particularly looking forward to a second retelling of the events that had brought him to this point, but he did so anyway, munching on his muffin the whole while. Lilith, thankfully, stayed silent and didn’t interrupt him, only nodding here and there until his story was finished. 

Lilith paused to refill his tea. “Well, that is...quite the shitshow.” 

“I know. It’s why I came here before going to the house. I wasn’t sure if...well, I wanted to ask…” He trailed off, unsure if he was about to ask too much of Lilith. 

“Go on, dear.”

“Is there a way to protect the house, other than boarding it up?” Guillermo continued. “I don’t know the first thing about witchcraft and magic and I wouldn’t know where to start. I get it if you’re too busy or you don’t want to, but-”

“Say no more. We’ll help you.”

“I- are you serious?” He gaped incredulously at Lilith, in slight disbelief that she had agreed so easily. 

“Of course I am. Guillermo, we like having you visit us. What, did you think we would hang you out to dry?”

“It’s just - well, you and Nadja aren’t exactly friends. I really thought you were going to say no.” He was done with his meal, idly messing with the muffin liner in his hands. 

Lilith chuckled softly and reached across the table to rest a hand on top of Guillermo’s. “Darling, Nadja and I might not be on the best of terms but that doesn’t mean I would enjoy something unfortunate happening, especially something like this. And I would never throw anyone to that council. Nadja’s house may be idiots but none of them deserve to die like that. They’ve done nothing wrong and you did the right thing, going after them like you did.”

Guillermo choked back a disbelieving laugh. “It doesn’t feel like I did. This all feels like one disaster after another. I’ve never felt more unsure of what I’m doing before in my life. And Nandor-” At the mention of Nandor’s name, he could feel the prick of tears in his eyes and he looked away from Lilith, staring down at the table legs. “Nandor won’t even talk to me. He won’t come near me. He barely looks at me, like he’s afraid of me now.”

“Dear, you have to remember what he went through in such a short amount of time. He was nearly executed, then found out you’re a vampire killer, and might I say a damn fine sounding one from what you’ve told me. Did he know about your skills before last night?"

He shook his head. "No, not really I guess. Well, there was that accident with Carol but other than that, he hasn't seen any of the other times I've...you know."

"See? That would be quite the shock to most people and not everyone processes trauma in the same way.”

He looked up upon hearing those words, his brow furrowed in a look of questioning. “Trauma?”

“Darling, what they went through last night is absolutely a traumatic event,” Lilith gently explained, a soft look on her face. “I don’t know Nandor all too well, not like I know Nadja and Laszlo, but I will say this. I don’t think he’s avoiding you for the reasons you think. Give him some space and time to process last night.”

He almost wanted to ask _what if he hates what I am_ but decided against it. Lilith’s reaction had been just as accepting as that of his vampires' but he still wasn’t sure they would respond the same way if they learned he was a Van Helsing. “And if he is afraid of me?”

“Then you try to work through it together as best as you can. That’s all anyone can do, I’m afraid.” She gave Guillermo a small smile and gave his hand an encouraging pat. “Now, I believe we have a warding ritual to plan. Shall we get started?”

* * *

He was gone again, for the third time. After everything that had happened to them over the course of a few hours, Guillermo had left them again. Nandor had been sleeping - well, attempting to sleep - when he had been disturbed by the sight of a fully dressed Guillermo about to walk out the door, his bag of weapons slung over his shoulders. He had half a mind in that moment to stop Guillermo, to ask him not to leave them again, not like this, but that thought had been dashed when he had felt a blanket being draped over him. The sudden gesture from Guillermo had caught him so off guard that he could only lie there and watch Guillermo leave.

So now here he sat on the creaky hotel bed, with the blanket Guillermo had tucked him in with wrapped around his shoulders, the note clutched in his hands. Nandor glanced down at it, rereading it for the twelfth time (or was it the fifteenth time) before looking over to the clock that mocked him with its glowing numbers. It read 9:30 a.m. 

Guillermo had been gone for three hours now. Exasperated and tired, Nandor felt a hiss slip passed his fangs, the urge to fling the clock beneath the bed growing with every minute. He could almost feel the clock laughing at him, scorning him with how painfully slow the day was passing by, jeering at him for his inability to sleep. And he hadn’t gotten any sleep, not that he expected to. He had laid in bed wide awake, restless with a constant feeling of paranoia that set his mind racing, until Guillermo had left. And now that he was gone, that paranoia, that hair raising feeling of something being so horribly _wrong_ wouldn’t leave him well enough alone. It set every fiber of his being on edge and he hated it. 

Everything was wrong. Guillermo had left him again after he had tried so hard to make amends and give his familiar what he had asked for: time off and better snacks. Wasn’t that what Guillermo had wanted? He had thought his idea to give Guillermo additional frequent breaks throughout the day had been great. He had really wanted it to make Guillermo happy but it hadn’t worked. If anything, Guillermo acted more unhappy than he had before and had left days after their witch encounter, without a word, without an explanation and without saying goodbye, leaving only that damned note behind. And now Nandor was holding a second note, without hearing a goodbye straight from Guillermo.

The debacle at the theatre had frightened him like nothing else had in decades and it still didn’t feel real. There had seemingly been no way out, no way to talk themselves out of the path of a guillotine. He and his housemates had very nearly died surrounded by vampires who hated them, vampires that had booed and hissed at them as they were dragged onto the stage. All he could think of during those moments had been Guillermo, how he would never see him again, never hear his voice again. And then, just as Nandor had been about to give up hope, Guillermo was there, swinging down out of nowhere. He had never been so happy to see Guillermo in his undead life but that joy had quickly turned to shock when Guillermo cut down a council guard right in front of him. His shock had turned back into fear as he helplessly watched council guards swarm Guillermo and when the battle was finally over, that fear had stayed with him, right up to this very moment. 

What if Guillermo was lying in this note? What if he pulled, as he had heard Colin Robinson call it once before, a runner and never came back? Did he not realize just how fucked the situation was? Guillermo would be the most wanted human in the city now. The council would be hunting for him and so would any vampire that had escaped Guillermo’s flurry of stakes. There would be a need to avenge the fallen for some. If Guillermo had really abandoned them, abandoned him, it would be a matter of time before he would end up being attacked. Guillermo was certainly a capable fighter. Nandor couldn’t deny that no matter how many times he tried to but, if his days in Al Quolanudar had taught him anything, it was that being capable didn’t always mean seasoned. He had seen too many promising, capable young warriors fall simply because they had been a greenhorn. They hadn’t been seasoned warriors and all it took was one mistake, one simple fuck up to end their life. Guillermo may have been at this whole secret slaying business for a year but he was untrained in Nandor’s eyes. He was still so new to fighting and if Nandor wasn’t there to protect Guillermo from that one possible mistake, that one fuck up, then Guillermo could wind up…

No, that wasn’t going to happen. It couldn’t happen, yet he couldn’t shake the thought of Guillermo being in danger, of never seeing him again. He would never admit it but seeing Guillermo for the first time in weeks, having him back in the same room had put him at ease for a short while. Everything had felt normal, as normal as things could be given the circumstances, but the thought of Guillermo never returning unsettled him more than he cared to admit to himself.

He sniffed and pulled the blanket around his shoulders more. Wasn’t this the way things were? The way it had always been? Not long after he had turned, times had gotten rough. Back then, he hadn’t understood what he had become, not really, and neither had anyone else he had known. Rather than try to help him understand, what had happened? His family, his entire family, had turned their backs on him, leaving in the dead of night without a word. Some of them Nandor had never seen again. His own people had driven him from his home, for some legitimate reasons, but it had still stung. People always turned tail and ran, abandoning him at the slightest hint of trouble. It had happened so many times before throughout his life and undead life, and now it was happening again. Guillermo had left for a third time, without a word. His housemates were supposedly sleeping next door but really, there was nothing to stop them from following Guillermo’s lead and dropping him now that they knew they were all in danger. 

_It’s happening again,_ he thought, that gnawing sense of something being wrong mounting in his chest. _People leave, they always leave me. Guillermo left, maybe the others will too. Just like my..._

Nandor looked up at the clock again and let out a seething hiss. Only four minutes had passed by. That infernal clock was definitely mocking him and laughing at his paranoid misery. He leapt up out of bed and swung a fist at the clock, ripping the plug out of the electrical socket and knocking the clock to the floor with a crash that shattered the silence in the room. The sudden noise set his teeth on edge. His one-sided fight with the clock had brushed up against the half faded silver burns on his wrist, eliciting another loud hiss from him and he kicked the clock underneath the bed so he didn’t have to look at those obnoxious glowing numbers for another second. 

“Fucking clock!” Nandor snarled at the offending clock, his breaths coming in staggered, heaving gulps as his shoulders shook. Why the hell did his body still feel the need to breathe anyway? He was dead, wasn’t he? 

Turning back to the bed, he snatched up the blanket and note, flinging himself back onto the mattress as he pulled the blanket around his trembling body, clutching the note in one hand. Nandor lay there for he didn’t know how long, trembling uncontrollably and desperately trying to silence this growing sense of dread, this fear of something he couldn’t place being so terribly wrong. He let out soft, sporadic hisses in between his staggered breathing that kept getting shorter and shorter until he could hear himself gasping.

 _Stop shaking!_ he screamed in his head. _Stop fucking shaking! What’s wrong with me?! Everything is fine!_

But no matter how hard he tried to will himself to stop shaking, it kept on coming. This feeling, whatever it was, lasted until Nandor’s mind and body couldn’t take the stress anymore. The shaking eventually died down until it was nothing more than the occasional shiver and his racing mind finally allowed an exhausted Nandor to rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My plan for the witches so far is to have them be a mix between real life pagans/wiccans and kind of what you see in the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. There's a lot of research involved, a lot more than what I already have. I'll do my best to keep them as accurate and respectful to pagan/wicca paths as I can. <3
> 
> Thank you for reading! Comments and kudos are always appreciated!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guillermo finds an unexpected surprise at the house and later returns to the hotel to tell the vampires about Lilith's plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to a friend on the Nandermo discord for being a lovely person to toss around plot ideas with! <3
> 
> Enjoy the new chapter, everyone!

To say that his visit with Lilith had been productive was just a tad of an understatement. In all honesty, he had expected to hear a hard no from Lilith when he asked for her help, but maybe things were finally going his way for a change. Even his mother hadn’t freaked out too much when he had explained to her his “roommates” had run into some trouble and he might have to stick around for a little while to help them out, after she had called in the middle of Lilith’s explanation on wards, wanting to know where he had disappeared to. 

The plan was all set for midnight. They would be performing a warding ritual and cleansing the house, provided that they could clear out the bodies in time- most of them, anyway. Lilith had explained it to him, saying that it would be best if the house was cleared of bodies, blood and anything remotely similar as much as possible. Otherwise, having too much of it could interfere with the ritual and cause it to fail. She had offered to help him with the task of cleaning, asking if he didn’t mind if the senior members of the coven swung by in a few hours, to which Guillermo had gratefully accepted. One or two bodies, he could get that done in almost no time at all, but the body count surely had to be in the double digits. Getting the bodies out of the house and finding a suitable spot to take them was going to eat up the better part of his day, and then there was all that dried blood to clean up. At least his phone had a full charge now from the icy drive earlier that morning. He could at least occupy the silence with music and a podcast or two until company arrived. 

Turning down the street to the house, he did a double take when he saw something he was not expecting to see parked in the driveway: a couple of cars and an unmarked van. So much for his day going according to plan. The van vaguely looked familiar but he wasn’t taking any chances today.

Leaning over to the passenger seat, he swiftly pulled a few stakes out of his duffle bag and pocketed them, then cautiously crept up the steps to the front door. It was unlocked. Then again, he couldn’t remember if he had locked the door behind him in his haste to reach the theatre in time.

As carefully as he could, Guillermo pushed open the front door, coming to a brief halt in the entryway when he saw that it was clean. And by clean, he meant all of the bodies were gone along with that drying blood puddle he had nearly thrown his back out over. Someone had definitely been in the house during everyone’s absence, yet this intruder, whoever they were, had gone out of their way to clean up the foyer. But why?

A shuffling noise off to his left caught his attention. He slipped his hand beneath his coat as he approached the curtains that hid most of the fancy room from view. Wrapping a hand around a stake, he braced himself for a second before whipping back the curtains and running smack dab into someone. A swiffer and bucket of cleaning supplies crashed to the floor with a bottle of pine-sol skidding across the floorboards.

“Aww shit! Guil- no, wait! Wait, it’s me!” 

Guillermo half expected a council assassin to be snooping around in the house and it took him a moment to recognize who was standing before him. Camera two had the swiffer held out like a makeshift shield, both hands held up in front of him. Guillermo let out a sigh of relief and shoved the stake back into his pocket. 

“You almost gave me a heart attack. It’s...your name is Aiden, right?” Guillermo asked, taking a moment to do a quick once over glance at Aiden. His normally wavy but neat hair now had a wild and scruffy look to it. One of Guillermo’s many aprons that he used for body cleanup adorned Aiden, a pair of rubber gloves hung out of his pockets. He was in the same clothes from last night but now they were clearly dirty with a few spots of bleach dotted along one pant leg.

Camera two - no, Aiden- smiled warmly and nodded at Guillermo. “That’s me. It’s good to see you’re okay. I take it you all made it out of there in one piece then?”

“More or less, yeah. Right now we’re hiding out in a- somewhere around here, on the island, you know? For right now, we’re staying somewhere else...that’s not here, until the house is safe.” Guillermo cleared his throat, a bit embarrassed about his small rambling when he had nearly let slip where they were holed up at. “Sorry about that.”

Aiden shook his head. “Hey, don’t worry about it. You don’t have to explain. As long as it’s safe, that’s what matters, right?”

Guillermo nodded along and peered behind Aiden into the fancy room. He couldn’t see a single body or bloodstain anywhere in sight. Aiden must have seen his gaze move from him and looked behind himself, then at the cleaning supplies scattered all over the floor. 

“Oh! That’s right. I hope it’s alright but the rest of the crew and I took the liberty of cleaning up. Everything was already here and we’ve seen you do it so many times at this point.”

Guillermo felt his eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “You were seriously okay with doing that?”

“Guillermo, we’ve been here filming for over a year now, apart from last summer. We’ve seen a lot and that’s saying something, with what happened last night and all.” Aiden shrugged and continued on. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. It was beyond nasty. It smelled really terrible and I’ll need a few showers to get the smell out of my nose, but I didn’t think you should have to deal with it on top of everything else. It’s the least we could do before we take off for the rest of the winter.”

“Well, I- I don’t know what to say,” Guillermo sputtered in surprise. “Thank you, I really- wait, take off for the winter? You’re leaving?” 

“Yeah,” Aiden sighed, bending down to pick up his bucket. “Our filming for the season was almost finished anyway but everyone voted to pack it up early and head home. Last night frightened pretty much everyone and I think the council scared them.”

Guillermo sighed and knelt down to help Aiden round up the cleaning products. He felt genuinely disappointed to see the camera crew leave a solid month before their regular filming schedule ended but he couldn’t say he blamed them for being afraid of the council. Who knows what the council would have done to them if he had just been a few minutes too late. Guillermo had never run into any issues with the camera crew. They had always been good to him and seemed to take most things in stride, especially Aiden, who had been the first one to follow Guillermo into the Hustler house. 

“So when will we see you guys again?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. Whenever this is over, I guess. If it helps, I live here in the city so if you want to get a hold of me, you can.”

“You don’t mind?” Guillermo questioned Aiden, handing him the bottle of pine-sol. “You’re alright with being associated with all of...this?” He gestured to the house around them to emphasize his point.

Aiden chuckled softly. “I think it’s a bit late to back out now but you can count me in for the long haul, even if it’s just to keep me updated. So…” Aiden set down the bucket, now ladened with cleaning supplies, and held a hand out to Guillermo. “Friends?”

Guillermo smiled and reached across the bucket, taking Aiden’s outstretched hand and giving him a firm handshake. “Friends.”

* * *

It was hours after sunset before Guillermo finally found himself turning the car into the parking lot of the Super 8 hotel, the trunk loaded with a few bags of supplies. For the past ten hours, there had been a flurry of activity in the house as the camera crew - the few that had stuck around past the late afternoon- and Lilith’s coven helped him clean the house from top to bottom. It had been a welcomed kind of chaos as everyone had raced about the house, hauling out the last couple of bodies, cleaning up the bloodstains and frantically trying to get the stench of rot to go away while Queen had blasted away from a bluetooth speaker the coven had brought along with them. The cleaning frenzy had ended for Guillermo during their dinner of pizza after Lilith had realized how late it had gotten and sent him on his way with a promise that they would be ready by the time he had to come back. 

Hauling himself out of the driver’s seat, Guillermo felt his side ache again, the same one where some council guard had slashed their claws across his ribs. The ache had been a small, nagging presence throughout his day, just enough for him to notice it but not really being a major hindrance to him. He had slipped away to the bathroom at one point to check on it and while it didn’t appear to be too bad, the cuts were just a touch more red than they had been before. 

_I’ll clean them out again tomorrow. I just don’t have the time for it today_ , Guillermo made a mental note to himself as he hauled duffel bags full of clean clothes out of the trunk. His reach for a small cooler, however, made him nearly gasp out loud from a sudden twinge of pain in his side. That was new. But he shook his head, chalking it up to just his still sore muscles protesting from picking up the cooler too fast. It was full of glass bottles after all. 

Guillermo made his way over to room 12, the other room not having any lights on, and listened briefly before knocking. He could hear the sound of the TV softly playing beneath a quiet conversation but it all fell silent the second he knocked on the door.

“It’s just me. It’s Guillermo,” he called out. “I brought back some stuff from the house. Can you guys open the door?”

There was a lengthy pause, then he could hear the locks turning and the door swung open. Colin stood there wearing just his pants and white dress shirt, loosely holding one of the stakes Guillermo had left behind in his hand. Guillermo looked at it for a moment, arching an eyebrow at Colin. 

“What’s with the look?” Colin asked, stepping aside to let Guillermo in.

“Was there a problem while I was gone? You acted like you were expecting someone else.” The door quickly snapped shut behind Guillermo, the locks being turned back into place.

“No, but we can’t be too careful right now, you know?”

Guillermo hummed in agreement, letting the bags slide down from his shoulders to land beside the table. He barely got a quick glance around the room to see where everyone else was before Colin crossed the room over to the bed where Nandor lay wrapped up in the blanket that Guillermo had laid over him that morning. The only difference was that Nandor now laid in _Guillermo’s_ bed.

“Nandor? Hey Nandor? Guillermo is back.” There was no response other than a soft snore from Nandor.

“He hasn’t been asleep all day, has he?” He looked over to where Laszlo and Nadja sat on the other bed, reclining against the headboard.

“Can’t really say,” Laszlo responded to Guillermo. “He’s only been asleep for the last hour or - Colin Robinson, what the fuck are you doing?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Guillermo saw Colin reach over Nandor to grab the other unused pillow and, before anyone could stop him, raised it up and smacked Nandor over the head with it. The bed was immediately a whirlwind of flailing limbs and blankets. Nandor woke up with a start, hissing and spitting, as he twisted around in bed in search of whatever had hit him, his fuming gaze locking onto Colin.

“Jiminy Cricket, who spit in your baklava?” Colin jumped back out of Nandor’s reach as the pillow was flung back at his face. 

“I was sleeping!” Nandor all but growled at Colin. “Fucking guy!”

“Well sleeping beauty, I just thought you would like to know that Guillermo is back.”

Whatever retort Nandor was about to say to Colin died on his lips, his eyes flicking over to see Guillermo standing beside the table, the little blue cooler resting on its surface. For a split second, Nandor wore a look of shock on his face, his mouth partially hanging open, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared, replaced with an unreadable expression as he looked anywhere except at Guillermo. 

_Did he think I wasn’t coming back?_ Guillermo wondered. 

“Well if everything’s been quiet, I’m just here to drop some stuff off before I need to get back to the house. There are clean clothes in the bags. The cooler has whatever was left from the blood supply in the basement. Oh, and I have your phone charger, Colin.” He reached into his coat pocket and tossed the charger over to Colin, who caught it with a grin. “There’s some stuff I need to go over with you guys before I have to leave in-” Guillermo looked over to the nightstand to check the time, frowning when he saw that the alarm clock was missing. “Wait, what happened to the clock?”

“Never mind about the clock,” Laszlo interjected, a questioning finger raised at Guillermo. “What are you _really_ leaving for?”

Guillermo fought the urge to rub his forehead. This wasn’t going to be an easy conversation. He could already tell. “That’s what I want to talk about. I kind of went to go see Lilith this morning and-”

“Oh, I’m sorry? You did what?” Nadja demanded, making a scoff of clear annoyance at Lilith being in the picture again. 

“Will you please let me finish so I can explain?” Guillermo protested, barely keeping himself from raising his voice. It wouldn’t do well to get into an argument this early in the conversation, not when he needed to get across how important this was to protect the house. When no one tried to talk over him again, he sank into a chair and carried on.

“Anyways, I did go to see Lilith because whatever I was doing to seal up the house from those assassins, it wasn’t enough. They were still finding a way inside, uninvited too. Since Lilith is a witch and all, I thought maybe she could do something to protect the house. So that’s what I’m going back to the house for tonight. She said we need to do a- hang on,” Guillermo paused and pulled out his phone, opening the notepad app to double check what little reminders he had been able to jot down. “Yeah, here it is. She wants to do a warding ritual and cleanse the house, that way anybody with ill intent towards us can’t step foot onto the property.”

“Absolutely not!” Just as Guillermo had guessed would happen, Nadja instantly objected to the plan. “I won’t have Lilith and her merry band of husband snatchers tampering with our home.”

“She’s actually there right now waiting for me to get back.”

“She’s...she’s what?!” Nadja sputtered. “You let her in?!”

“Do you have a better plan?” There was one thing that might get Nadja to agree to this. It might blow up in his face but it was worth a shot if it meant he wouldn’t have to constantly be on guard in the house.

“Nadja, do you remember that time from a few months ago? You woke up and asked me what I was doing, and I told you I was dusting?”

“Yes, but what does that have to do with any of this?”

“Well, I wasn’t dusting. I was fighting an assassin that had snuck his way into the house.” The room went dead silent at his announcement. He watched Nadja’s entire body go rigid as she intertwined a hand with Laszlo’s, the couple sharing a dark look of unease between them. “I caught him sneaking into your crypt. He was going to kill you both in your sleep and probably would have moved on to the rest of the house if I hadn't stopped him. And that’s just one of the times I kept the assassins from sneaking up on you guys.”

“So anytime we caught you doing odd shit,” Laszlo chimed in, “that was you whacking…?”

“Assassins?” Guillermo finished the sentence for him. “Probably, yeah. Or it was weird ways I was trying to keep myself awake. I wasn’t kidding when I said I wasn’t getting any sleep.” He checked the time on his phone, the screen reading 9:31 p.m. He was going to have to leave before too long. 

“I’m gonna have to head out in a little bit.” He pocketed his phone, watching Nandor’s head snap over to him at the very mention of him leaving again. “You guys can stay in one piece for one more night without me?”

“How do we know you’re going to come back, Guillermo?”

Nandor’s softly spoken question grabbed his attention. To Guillermo, he sounded so unsure and that was unusual for him. Ever since he had swung down onto that stage, Nandor had acted so skittish around him, almost as if he thought he was going to lash out at them or disappear in the light of the day. Nandor didn’t really believe Guillermo was going to cut and run after what they had been through just a short twenty hours ago, did he? It was certainly possible with the way he had been acting. Nandor wouldn’t look him in the eyes for more than a few seconds at time. He barely spoke to anyone, let alone to him. And he looked off. The others appeared to be relatively well rested but Nandor looked exhausted. He had been sound asleep when Guillermo had returned. Dark circles had formed under his eyes, his shoulders sagged and everything about the way he was sitting screamed out that he hadn’t slept. Either Nandor had been constantly on guard for an attack or he had stayed up waiting for him to return. The thought of Nandor staying awake for over twenty-four hours, waiting for him to walk through the door, bothered him. Guillermo couldn’t remember the last time he had stayed awake for this long, with no rest of any kind and with no way to feed. 

“After everything we went through last night, I’m wanted by the council just as much as you guys are. I don’t see how I wouldn’t be. We’re in this mess together.” Guillermo spoke softly, trying to reassure Nandor more out of anyone else in the room. “I’m not sure how long this warding ritual will take but I will come back after it’s done. I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be all about the warding ritual and I'm so excited to write it!
> 
> Thank you for reading! Kudos and comments are always appreciated. I really do love reading everyone's comments. <3


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guillermo takes part in a warding ritual to protect the house and gets a brief lesson in self-confidence from Lilith.

It was late when Guillermo returned to the house, not quite midnight but late enough where the neighbors would be indoors for the night. Walking up to the front steps, he could just make out the glow of candles behind every newspaper covered window. Lilith and her coven were probably waiting for him.

He had tried to slip away from the hotel earlier but everyone, mainly Nadja, had needed extra convincing that the house would still be standing when they returned to it after the warding ritual was over. Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t convince anyone to stay one extra night in the hotel. Deep down, Guillermo knew they felt safer in their own home, even if that home had been infiltrated by assassins more than once. Even he had to admit that he would feel safer in the house, a place he had become so familiar with over the past eleven years.

Guillermo pushed his way through the front door, dropping his duffle bag and coat just inside the entryway. The sight that greeted him was one that was straight out of a movie, at least to him. The floor had been cleared away of its rugs. There were candles everywhere and what they didn’t illuminate was substituted by the warm glow from the lamps. He could see the outline of a circle with a star in the center on the floor, drawn in what appeared to be chalk. Each point on the star was surrounded by white candles and had an odd arrangement of items: a couple of bowls, a potted plant and flowers, incense and a rather old looking oil lamp. Lilith was towards the staircase, arranging items on a small wooden table, and the rest of her coven was scattered around the room, quietly speaking to one another until they noticed Guillermo. The quiet conversation died down as Lilith turned to greet him.

“Guillermo! You made it back safely.” Lilith beamed at him, walking over and enveloping him in a brief hug. “Are you ready for tonight?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Honestly, I’m not sure but this needs to get done, right?” At Lilith’s reaffirming nod, he let out a small sigh. “Then I’m ready.”

“That’s what I like to hear.” She smiled at him once more and gave his shoulder a reassuring gentle pat. “Now, before we get started, I need you to do one thing for me. In order for this to work, I need items of significance from each member of the household, including you, but it has to be able to fit into these glass jars.” Lilith gestured to the foot of the wooden table, where there sat a small crate with eight glass jars sitting inside. “Think of things like perfume, plants, anything small that can be poured or shredded to fit inside.”

Items of significance? That seemed doable. Thinking for a moment, he nodded slowly in understanding. “Yeah, I have an idea. Can I…?”

Lilith stepped aside and waved him on into the house. “Go right ahead. Take your time.”

Guillermo nodded again and headed off down the main hallway, passing Nandor’s crypt and going for Colin’s room in the basement first. There wasn’t much down there that could easily fit into a jar but he figured pencil shavings or that awful Mr. Hijinks cologne could work. Heading back upstairs, he popped outside into the yard to pluck what remaining leaves he could find from Laszlo’s apple tree, then ducked into Laszlo and Nadja’s crypt to grab a hair off of Nadja’s doll. It had been the last place he had seen the beyond creepy doll and he hightailed it out of the room the moment he had the fake hair. Now that he knew it could talk, he did _not_ want to be around it for any longer than he had to.

Nandor was up next and to Guillermo, this was the simplest one but it seemed to take him forever. He felt himself wanting to linger in the room as the all too recognizable smell of Nandor’s crypt washed over him. It had been well over a week since he had last stood in this room. Suffice it to say, he had missed it, the smell of old books and furs, the warm scent of patchouli and argan oil, weapon polish and that spice smell that he could never quite give a name to. Out of all the rooms in the house, this was the one where Guillermo always seemed to spend most of his time so it was no wonder that he had missed it as much as he had. It was a comforting smell to Guillermo, one that he would have loved to bottle up in a candle and take with him. This house and everything in it, the warm smell of Nandor’s crypt, it smelled almost like home. Despite all the glaring flaws of its residents, it was the only other home Guillermo had known for eleven years. There was nowhere else for him to run to, not without endangering others he knew, and it needed to be protected. 

Putting those thoughts aside, he walked over to the old, rickety cabinet against the wall and pulled the doors open. It only took him a moment to spot what he was looking for amongst all the soaps, oils and polishes: an ornate bottle of argan hair oil. Snatching it up, Guillermo headed out of the crypt, returning to Lilith with everything in hand. He had only been gone a few minutes and in that time, the coven had moved to stand in a circle around the room, with Lilith standing in front of the little wooden table at the top point of the star.

“All set, dear?” At his nod, Lilith gestured to the glass jar crate. “Excellent. Why don’t you set your items down near the jars until we’re ready for them?” She waited for Guillermo to do just that, then raised her voice, garnering everyone’s attention. 

“Now then, you all know why we’re here and what our intentions need to be for tonight. Since Guillermo is new to all of this, I thought it would be best to do a quick crash course on intention setting for him and as a refresher for all of us.”

“Intention setting?”

“Yes, dear.” Lilith turned to him and gestured for him to stand in front of her and the table. “Setting intentions is the foundation of what we do. Without it, you cannot have a solid foundation for any spell, ritual, you name it. It’s all about visualizing what you want to achieve in your mind’s eye, then letting it come to fruition. We each have to be very precise about what it is we want to manifest, otherwise the message is lost.”

“I- I’m not sure I’m following, Lilith,” Guillermo stammered out, feeling just a touch out of his depth. Fighting assassins was one thing but this? This was a whole different ballpark. 

“Alright, think of it like this. What is it you want to achieve tonight? Why are we here?”

Guillermo didn’t need a second to think it over. He already knew. “I want to protect the house but with more than just boarding it up. I want another way of keeping people out, keeping them from breaking in.”

“Good. Now I want you to picture what that looks like to you in your head. You don’t have to share it but once you can see it, I want you to keep it there in the front of your mind. What does this protection look like? How does it feel? Be very specific in the details. Next, I want you to think of what you’re trying to protect, who you want to protect and what you are protecting yourselves from. Take that barrier you created, whether it looks like a force field or a physical wall, and visualize it standing between all of you and the Vampiric Council. Nothing can get through it, not without your explicit approval. Do you see it?”

While Lilith had been speaking, he had closed his eyes, making some kind of effort at concentrating. As soon as the council was mentioned, Guillermo had a clear picture in his mind. The five of them were standing out on the lawn, watching assassins disintegrate against an invisible wall like insects bouncing off of a bug zapper. 

“I think I’ve got it.” Guillermo opened his eyes to see Lilith beaming at him.

“Wonderful. Now, there’s one more thing and it’s just as vital as setting your intentions. And that’s believing in yourself and being positive. I know it sounds terribly cliche but it’s true. Whenever you’re working with spells, it’s important to do so from a place of power, positivity and most importantly, confidence. If you want your intentions and spells to have lasting power, you need to believe in what you can achieve. You cannot doubt yourself or it will only interfere with your work. You are always stronger than what you think you are. The way you described that theatre to me this morning, how you made the decision right here in this room to rush into danger without hesitation and you met it head on? That is confidence, Guillermo, believing you can do something even if it’s intimidating and seeing it through to the end. That is what I saw in you the night we met. It’s what I saw in you this morning and I see it in you right now.”

Guillermo was stunned into silence by Lilith’s small speech. She really saw that in him? These past few days had left him feeling anything but confident. “You really think that way? About me?”

“Darling, I don’t think it. I know it. You have more power and confidence than you know. You just don’t realize it. And who knows? Maybe what we do here tonight can help you start down that path. So...are you ready to begin?”

Taking in a shaky breath, he braced himself for whatever was to come and nodded. “As ready as I can be.”

“Then I need you to stand in front of the table, since you will act as the focus for this ritual.” She waits until Guillermo does so. “This table acts as our altar, where we lay out the tools we’re going to use and leave out offerings as a thank you to anyone helping us tonight. Spirits, deities, ancestors and so on.” The little table was now ladened with a variety of things: small knives, a stone basin, candles, bottles full of dried herbs, lit incense and a bowl full of fruit and bread. “Each point on the star represents either the spirit or an element of nature. Earth, air, fire and water respectively. It’s good practice to call upon each point before beginning a ritual like this and ask for its protection.”

“Is that what we’re about to do?” Guillermo asked.

“Yes,” Lilith replied. “What we’re about to do is called casting a circle. It acts as a barrier of protection as you go about your ritual. Normally, it only expands to the edge of the circle we’ve drawn out but we have enough people here tonight to project it to the edge of the yard. I want you to picture it as a sphere of warm energy that surrounds the entire yard. When I move to each point, I need you to turn yourself clockwise to face me and repeat what I say in a clear, loud voice. And I’m forewarning you now, the air may start to feel different to you as we go. It might feel warm and charged, like there’s a build up of static electricity, but that’s normal. It’s perfectly safe. For now, all I need you to do is follow my lead. Your part will be more involved during the warding ritual.”

Guillermo nodded once to show he understood and swallowed thickly out of nerves. All he had to do for now was turn in a circle and repeat what Lilith said? Yeah, I can do that at least, he thought, watching as Lilith moved to stand behind the altar, facing everyone. 

“Sisters and friends, tonight we are here to call upon ourselves, to protect this home and all who dwell within it. Are all in agreement?” Lilith’s voice rang out through the house, strong and clear, and was met with an equally resounding “yes” that echoed through the foyer. “Guillermo de la Cruz, is it your intention to protect this house and all who dwell within it, to safeguard it against all who have ill intent towards it?”

“Yes,” Guillermo replied, in a voice that sounded, at least to him, far more sure than he felt in reality. 

“Then let us begin.” Picking up a candle lighter, Lilith moved off to Guillermo’s right side, standing beside the point on the star where a little bowl sat, filled with salt. She gracefully bent down to light the white tealight candle at the star’s point. “Guardians of the east, spirits of air, we call upon you, to witness these rites and guard this circle. We bid you hail and welcome.”

Guillermo felt himself flinch with a start as everyone else spoke in unison, repeating back “Hail and welcome” to Lilith. He hurriedly mumbled along and threw Lilith a quick apologetic look. She gave him an encouraging smile and moved to the next point on the star, which held burning incense along with the tealights. 

“Guardians of the south, spirits of fire, we call upon you, to witness these rites and guard this circle. We bid you hail and welcome.”

This time Guillermo called out “hail and welcome” along with the rest of the coven. From there, Lilith moved on to the remaining two points, calling out for protections from earth and water and lighting the candles as she went until she turned to the altar where Guillermo stood.

“Now is when your part begins, Guillermo. See these two bowls on the altar?” Lilith pointed to them, two small cast iron bowls that held a dried herb bundle and a black candle. “Take one and come sit with me in the circle, facing the front door.”

He picked up the bowl holding the black candle and followed Lilith, sitting down cross legged on the floor beside her and set the bowl on the floor. “What do you need me to do?”

Lilith held out a spare candle lighter to him. “Light the candle in your bowl, then focus on the flame for a moment. Think of all the negativity you feel in your life right now, all the bad energy that wants to get inside this house, and let the flame burn that all away. I will do the same with this sage and rosemary bundle.”

Nodding once, Guillermo clicked the trigger on the lighter a couple of times before the flame sparked and lit the candle. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Lilith doing the same and the earthy scent of herbs began to fill the room, mixing with the more smokey smell from the incense. It was a pleasant scent, not too unlike how the Satchel Serafina tended to smell. After a few moments had passed, he saw Lilith turn to him, waiting for a signal from him that he was ready to continue, and he nodded.

“Repeat after me, dear.” Just as it had before, Lilith’s voice rang throughout the house, as strong and clear as ever. “Sage and rosemary, we call upon you, impart your protective energies to us.” 

Taking in a deep breath to steady himself, Guillermo and the rest of the coven replied to Lilith. “Sage and rosemary, we call upon you, impart your protective energies to us.” 

“Safeguard this home and all who dwell within it, allow us to harness your protective spirits.”

Again, the words were repeated back to Lilith. Guillermo could have sworn he felt a change in the air, like a buildup of static electricity, just as Lilith said there might have been. “Safeguard this home and all who dwell within it, allow us to harness your protective spirits.” 

“Candle flame, transform for us all the present negativity. So mote it be!”

The air definitely felt different. Guillermo was almost certain of it. Everything felt more charged, as the last words were repeated.

“Excellent. Quinn, go crack open the front door to let the smoke air out.” Lilith got to her feet, holding a hand out to Guillermo and helping him up, then went back to the altar. “We’ll let these burn out while we finish. Next, we need to build our protection jars. It’s important you add most of the ingredients yourself, since you are the only one present who lives here.” 

Guillermo looked down at the collection of dried herbs and flower petals, salt, crushed eggshells and some kind of black powder. “Is there any specific order?”

“Not really, no. However, the items I asked you to gather need to be added last. I can cleanse each jar with smoke while you add the ingredients. Just add a pinch of everything except for the cloves. You’ll need to add six to each jar.”

He nodded and started to work on the first jar. This part seemed fairly straightforward as well. In all honesty, he had been expecting tonight to have been more complex and difficult to get through. He still didn’t know what he had been expecting to do, something more along the lines of what he knew from films, but he figured it was just another thing that had been exaggerated over the years. 

It didn’t take long for the jars to be finished, the last of items Guillermo added being Nandor’s hair oil and his own item, a drawing of himself and the vampires that he had torn out of his sketchbook and kept in his wallet for...reasons. The paper had been torn into strips and slipped into each of the eight jars.

“Well done, dear,” Lilith praised him as he put the cork stopper on the last jar. He felt the tiniest pull of a smile on his lips at her praise. “Now, take the black candle and hold it over each bottle. Let the melted wax drip down onto them and repeat after me.”

She waited until Guillermo poured the black wax over the first jar and after each sentence, the words were called back to Lilith. “Spirits of air, fire, water, and earth, elements of all life on earth, we call upon you now. Attend to us! In this circle, rightly cast, safe from foe’s curse and blast, we call upon you now. Attend to us! From cave and desert, from sea and hill, by blade, wand, cup and will. We call upon you now. Attend to us! This is our will, so mote it be!” 

By the end of the words, the air felt just as charged and heavy as it had before, leaving Guillermo feeling just a tad tired. Lilith returned the sealed jars to their wooden crate and set it back down on the floor. “Now all we need to do is close the circle and we’re finished. Guillermo, take up the same place as before if you please. This time I need you to turn counter-clockwise as I move around the circle.”

Lilith waited for him and when he was in the same position as before, she moved to stand at the point opposite than where she had stood to open the circle. The words she spoke were similar but different in a way that they signaled the end of their work here tonight.

“Guardians of the North, spirits of earth, we thank you for your presence in this circle and witnessing these rites. We bid you thanks and farewell.”

The entire room called back “thanks and farewell!” From there, Lilith moved to each point, repeating the same words and substituting each element as she went. When she reached the beginning point again, everyone stepped forward, snuffing out of the candles that had been sitting around the edge of the circle and at each point on the star. The charged atmosphere of the room dissipated almost immediately once the candles were snuffed out, almost as if some unseen force had left the room. It made Guillermo want to look over his shoulder at the front door but he kept himself from looking when Lilith spoke. 

“Alright, ladies. You all know your tasks for the rest of the evening. Let’s get them done so Nadja and the others can come home and Guillermo can get some well deserved sleep.” 

Sleep? Crawling into bed sounded heavenly to Guillermo, even if his old bed didn’t have any sheets or blankets on it right now. He was growing tired from the longest twenty-four hours he had been through in a long time and the muscles on his side noticeably ached. Guillermo stifled down a yawn as Lilith strode over to him, wrapping him up in a brief hug before she pulled back, noticing him try to hold back another yawn. 

“Tired, dear?”

“Mmm, yeah.” He yawned this time and shook his head. “Sorry, Lilith. I wasn’t feeling this tired a few minutes ago.” 

“No, there’s no need to apologize. I was expecting you to feel a little sleepy. You’ve done your first, well, everything tonight. You took your first steps into the craft tonight and it can be draining sometimes. It’s normal for you to feel tired afterwards. And speaking of your first steps, that’s something I wanted to talk to you about.” She gave him a warm smile and gently nudged him to walk with her to the fancy room, heading over to Nandor’s desk. A wooden box Guillermo had never seen before sat on the desk’s surface. “Open it, Guillermo.” 

Lilith watched him expectantly as he stepped up to the desk and took a closer look. The box was a light color with red undertones. An ornate design of a tree took up the entire lid with little intricate symbols running down the sides. Guillermo unhooked the latch and flipped the lid open to reveal books, a few leatherbound notebooks and a little pocket notebook. 

“This is from us to you, along with all of the tools we used tonight. Those are books I recommend to beginners just starting out but if you’re interested in a topic, I can find the books for you. Those notebooks are for your own research. And that pocket notebook has all of our contact info in it. Phone numbers, emails, it’s all there."

Guillermo reached into the box and pulled out one of the books, _Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft_ by Raymond Buckland. He flipped through it and glanced down at the other books. There were a few about herbs, another guide book and then there were the rather gorgeous leatherbound notebooks. "These are for me? Seriously?"

"Of course, darling, if you want to continue this path. It's entirely up to you but it may help boost your self-confidence. And it can help you protect yourself. Remember when I held Nadja to the ceiling? You could do that too, with enough study and practice."

"You really think I could do that? I wasn't exactly born a witch."

"Dear, none of us were. Anyone can become a witch. All it takes is practice, which is why I'm giving you those books." Lilith tried to reassure him with a warm smile. "Don't doubt yourself so much, Guillermo. Now, how about we see if everything is wrapped up? I'm sure you're itching to get some rest."

He nodded in agreement and held back another yawn. "I did want to ask you something. How do we know this worked? Is there a way to tell?"

"Trust me, Guillermo. You'll know. When assassins stop coming into the house, that's how you'll know the ritual worked. They won't be able to cross the property line either. You're completely safe here." 

"Great," Guillermo sighed quietly. "So I just have to figure out how to not get attacked if I have to go to the grocery store.”

"That’s something we can work on." She paused in thought for a moment, snapping her fingers as an idea came to her. "How about this? Since it's still so soon after the theatre, we can escort you from afar back to the hotel, then back here. You won't see us but we'll be nearby watching, just in case."

Guillermo felt a weight lift off of his shoulders at that. He didn't want to admit it but making the return trip to the house had made him uneasy. He had not been attacked yet. Neither had the others but it felt like it was only a matter of time before something did happen. And he really did not want it to be tonight. He was exhausted and all he wanted was a hot shower and a decent night's sleep.

"Thank you, Lilith. And not just for the escort back."

"You don't have to thank me, dear. This is what friends do. They look out for each other." 

He couldn't help the tired smile that broke out onto his face. Hearing himself being called a friend by Aiden and now Lilith was a small comfort. Knowing he had others on his side - even if it was only one cameraman and a coven of witches - did wonders for his restless nerves tonight. And now that the house was protected, maybe, just maybe, things would turn out alright in the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter involved a heavy amount of research into wicca, witches in media and Wellington Paranormal. My final notes google doc for the entire ritual ended up being about six pages long. 
> 
> Next chapter is the return to the house! Guillermo makes a trip to CVS and things go...wrong. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! Kudos and comments are always appreciated. <3


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone returns to the house. Guillermo and Nandor make a trip to CVS where they discover things aren't as safe as they appeared to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter contains graphic depictions of violence (fight scene, blood, gore, etc.). You've been warned. Read on at your own risk.

During his time with the vampires, there had been many times where he had felt almost too tired to function. His first couple of weeks in the house, the night the baron died, the entire week leading up to the bi-annual orgy. But tonight? He couldn’t even begin to remember the last time he had felt this utterly exhausted. 

It had taken every ounce of willpower not to rush into the hotel room and collapse on the bed. Instead, he had to usher everyone out and wipe every last trace of their presence from the rooms, all while ignoring Nadja’s constant badgering about exactly what Lilith had done to the house. And on the return trip home, there had been a couple of times where he had felt his eyes wanting to close. The only thing that had kept him awake had been the radio, much to Laszlo’s chagrin when _Come on Eileen_ came over the speakers. 

True to her word, Guillermo hadn’t seen Lilith or any of the other coven members at all after he had left the house in the car. He got confirmation that she actually had been watching from far away when he had pulled the car into the driveway and his phone had pinged with a text message from her. _We see you in the driveway. We’re going to head home. Try and get some sleep._

That was his plan as he trudged up the front steps, feeling dead on his feet, and unlocked the door, only to have it refuse to budge when he went to open it. Of course the door would get stuck again tonight, of all nights. He pushed a few more times on the doorknob, the door stubbornly staying in place. I’ve had enough of this door, he thought and slammed his right shoulder into the door, immediately regretting the action.

The door swung open and Guillermo nearly fell through it. A sharp stabbing pain shot up and down his right side, coming from the spot where his injury was. He saw stars in his vision and the pain nearly took his breath away, forcing out a small gasp from him. His hand shot up out of reflex to cover the injury over his clothes and he stumbled further into the foyer. Behind him, he could hear the vampires walking into the house.

“Ah, it’s good to be-” Laszlo stopped mid-sentence, sniffing the air. Guillermo already knew what he could smell. “What in the blazes is that smell?”

“Witches!” Nadja seethed. “It’s Lilith and her ilk’s stench!”

“Darling, it smells more like incense, doesn’t it?”

Laszlo carried on but Guillermo wasn’t listening anymore. His side felt like it was burning and he needed to go check on it. Right now. Ignoring Laszlo and Nadja’s debate on what the smell was, he made a beeline for the staircase and was nearly up the stairs when he heard his name being called. 

“Hey Guillermo, you alright?” Colin had stepped forward to the foot of the stairs, eyeing him up and down. If Guillermo didn’t know any better, Colin almost looked concerned. 

He took in a deep breath to steady himself and nodded. “Yeah, all fine. I’m just tired so I’m gonna pop in the shower and head to bed.” Colin arched an eyebrow at him, giving him a look of suspicion that Guillermo ignored. “Look, if you see jars with wax on them or the black salt on the windowsills, don’t touch them. They’re part of the wards. And don’t go outside alone.” He turned and walked up the remaining stairs, fully ignoring another question from Colin. 

No one had followed him up the stairs. He ducked into the bathroom, locking the door behind him, and gingerly went to lift his sweater over his head. Pain flared through his side again, shooting up his right arm this time and drawing a loud gasp from him, forcing him to let go of his sweater. His side had not been hurting this badly a few hours ago but now that he had used all his weight to force open the front door, the pain didn’t seem to want to go away. Trying again, he lifted his sweater over his head with more success and pulled his undershirt off along with his makeshift bandage, although it didn’t come off without a twinge of pain. 

What he could see didn’t look good. The scratches were red and swollen, almost angry looking and warm to the touch. Guillermo experimentally poked at them a couple of times and bit back a hiss of pain. The wounds had somewhat scabbed over and they didn’t appear to be infected. Still, it was probably better to be safe than sorry. 

Guillermo knelt down in front of the sink- wincing as he did so - and pulled open the cabinet doors, searching around for the first aid kit. _Fuck, I really hope it’s not too old_ , he dreaded, pulling out the little white box. He rummaged around its contents and slammed the lid shut, only pulling out the non-stick gauze pads. Every single ointment and disinfectant was expired by at least a full year. None of it would do him any good but the gauze was better than nothing. He would go buy more in the morning. 

He undressed and took a quick, hot shower, too uncomfortable to really take the time to relax and enjoy the warm water. The wounds were washed out with soapy water and he redressed them with the gauze. By the time he had finished and pulled his clothes back on, he was fighting to stay awake. He dragged himself back downstairs to his old room - thankfully not running into anyone - and collapsed on the bed, not even caring that it didn’t have any sheets or blankets. He was so utterly tired that he couldn’t be bothered to go look for any. Exhaustion and the pain in his side overtook him and he fell asleep within minutes. 

* * *

Guillermo awoke some ten hours later or was it eleven? He really didn’t know but he could tell from the light coming into his room from the foyer that it was dark outside. And quite honestly, he didn’t care what time it was. All he could focus on was how downright _awful_ he felt. 

His side was throbbing. No, it felt like it was on fire, like he had been cut with a hot knife, and the pain was all over his right side, shooting down his arm in short bursts. With each breath he took, he could feel the skin and muscles around his injury pull taut and damn, did it hurt! On top of the pain, he felt unnaturally warm and he could feel sweat clinging to his shirt. He didn’t need to look at his injury to know that he had been wrong last night. There was no denying that it was infected. And since the first aid kit had been a bust, that meant he was going to have to leave the house and go to CVS. Going to a hospital was out of the question. There would be the risk of assassins and he still didn’t have any insurance. 

Guillermo truthfully didn’t want anyone going with him either. He didn’t want to let them know about his current predicament, not knowing whether he would get sympathy or be mocked for allowing things to go this far. The pharmacy wasn’t that far from the house, maybe a block or two. He might be able to sneak out, go there and be back in time before anyone knew he was gone. Doing so would break the tentative rule he had laid out of no one going outside alone but it was better than the alternative. He really, really didn’t want to hear it from Nadja and Laszlo, especially from Laszlo.

Holding back a groan of pain, he rolled out of bed and grabbed what he needed from the top of the mini fridge, shaking his head briefly to stop the room from spinning. He shuffled to the front door as quietly as he could, shrugged his coat on and was about to leave when a tap on his shoulder made him jump a mile high. With a yelp, he whirled around and pulled a stake out from a coat pocket out of habit, the room wanting to spin as he turned. Nandor had been right behind him and equally jumped back a few feet upon seeing the stake in Guillermo’s hand.

“Easy there! What are you doing, swinging that stake about?” Nandor hissed, a hand just slightly held out in front of himself as a show of caution.

Guillermo had to shake his head again to keep the room from spinning and swallowed thickly, fighting a wave of nausea that threatened to creep up on him. “You’re the one who snuck up on me. Don’t...just please don’t do that, Nandor!”

Nandor flinched, probably at the use of his name, and cleared his throat. “Where are you going? You said not to go outside alone.”

So much for sneaking undetected out of the house. “I know I said that but I’m just going to CVS. I need-” Now came the hard part. He couldn’t tell Nandor why he was really sneaking out. “I left things I need at my mom’s place. I’m just going for toiletries.”

“Then I will go with you.”

“That’s really not necessary. I’ll be fine on my own.”

“You said it yourself. No one goes outside alone.” Nandor nodded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, which it kind of was. With the threat of assassins still hunting them, there was definite safety in numbers.

Guillermo sighed, giving in mostly because he felt too feverish and sick to argue. “Alright, fine.” He could only hope Nandor wouldn’t notice he was buying things for wound care or smell the illness on him.

* * *

They were halfway to the CVS when something felt wrong. Guillermo couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching them and it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. The longer they walked, the more he felt the overwhelming urge to look over his shoulder and when he finally did, he immediately looked away.

There was someone behind them, dressed in that black attire that Guillermo had seen the council assassins and guards wear so many times already, complete with the dark cloak and black leather boots. He was sure of it.

“Nandor!” He whispered urgently. “There’s someone following us.” Guillermo wanted to scream. Nandor tried to obviously turn around to look behind them. He had to grab Nandor’s arm to stop him and force him to keep facing forward. “Don’t turn around! Are you nuts? Just use your peripheral vision.” 

After a minute had gone by, Guillermo asked “Do you see him?”

“I’m not actually seeing anything, Guillermo,” Nandor whispered back to him, looking straight ahead with comically wide eyes. “I’m just widening my eyes.”

Guillermo fought the urge to roll his eyes. “There’s a man behind us dressed like a council guard.”

“Okay, we do not know that is exactly what he looks like. He could just be-” Nandor stopped speaking just as they reached an intersection and looked to the opposite corner of the street from where they stood. Guillermo followed his gaze and saw what made Nandor fall silent. Four people stood in the shadows, barely out of the reach of a streetlight. They were shrouded in darkness just enough to hide any discernible features but there was the unmistakable outline of near ankle length capes on every single one of them. 

Guillermo looked back across the street. The CVS was right there and a bus stop stood right out in front, the kind that had shields from the wind, rain and harsh summer sun, enough protection to hide them from view. The crosswalk light flashed green and Guillermo pulled Nandor across the street with him. Nandor’s eyes never left the group that was still standing across the street, even as Guillermo pulled him inside the bus stop with him and out of view. 

“Get in my coat pocket.”

“What- excuse me?” Nandor sputtered, turning to look at him with an incredulous expression on his face.

“Turn into a bat and get inside my inner coat pocket. Please, Nandor!” Guillermo pointed in the vague direction of the cloaked figures, doing his absolute best to hide a wince. He could just barely make them out through the partition in the wind shields. They were still on the other side of the street. “If those really are assassins, I can’t keep an eye out for them, shop for myself and make sure we’re both safe at the same time! If you’re in my pocket, that’s one less thing I have to focus on.”

Nandor hesitated, ducking down to peer out the partition as well. The fifth cloaked figure was nowhere to be seen but the four were still clustered together, watching them out of reach of the streetlight. He straightened up to his full height and grumbled.

“Alright, fine. Yeesh.” 

In an instant, Nandor was gone, replaced with a hovering bat that quickly latched onto Guillermo’s coat. Guillermo held the fabric away from his body, giving the bat plenty of room to climb inside. The furry little creature hooked its claws into his coat and climbed under the coat flap, diving headfirst into an empty pocket with the tiniest squeak. It was almost cute if the situation wasn’t so serious. 

Guillermo poked his head out of the bus stop, then hurried straight into the CVS, nodding a hello at the cashier. He was feeling worse with every passing minute and with the threat standing outside these walls, he longed for the relative safety of the house. Moving as quickly as he could without making his nausea worse, he went up and down the isles, grabbing what he needed and hoping Nandor didn’t poke his head out from his coat. The last thing they needed was to try and explain why he had a bat in his pocket. Thankfully, nothing happened and he was able to check out without any issue, although the cashier did raise an eyebrow at the sheer amount of wound care and medical items Guillermo was buying.

He stepped out of the CVS and did a quick look around to find only one figure standing at that same corner. The rest were nowhere to be seen and neither was the fifth figure that had been following them. Guillermo felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up again and a chill ran down his back. He felt so sick but on high alert as he walked down the sidewalk, passing the bus stop and crossing the street. That feeling of being watched was back and he stole a glance over his shoulder. The lone figure had crossed the street and was definitely following them. Now that they were in the light there was no mistaking their clothing. These were guards from the Vampiric Council, possibly assassins. 

He tried to act like he didn’t see the man and kept moving, passing by an alley as he subtly tried to slip a hand into his other pocket to reach for a stake but before he had the chance to grab it, he felt himself being lifted off of his feet. Strong arms wrapped around his torso, grabbing his arm and pulling it painfully away from his coat. A hand dug into his hair, dragging him backwards into the alley by his arm and hair, and Guillermo violently struggled to break free to no avail. From somewhere out on the street, Guillermo could hear lightbulbs shattering one by one and the alley was plunged into darkness, making it next to impossible for Guillermo to see in the dim light. 

It wasn’t until he was being hauled to his feet by his hair and pushed backwards towards a wall that he finally had an opening. He wrenched his arm free, nearly crying out in pain from the claws that scratched up his forearm, and finally whipped out the stake. He kicked and lashed out wildly to push the assassin away from him. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see more assassins pouring into the alley from both sides. There were maybe four or five in total? Everything was happening so fast that it was impossible to tell. He took another swing at the assassin and left a mark, tearing the fabric of his clothes and drawing out a hiss. 

And then suddenly, hissing and spitting filled the alley and echoed off of the brick walls that surrounded Guillermo on either side. Somehow Nandor had flown out of his coat and transformed back into his human form. He stood in front of Guillermo, pushing him behind his back with an arm. His fangs were bared and elongated, a look of pure and utter rage etched into every line, every aspect of his face. Even in the darkness, Guillermo could see a flash of yellow in Nandor’s eyes before they turned an inky black and he watched the fingernails on Nandor’s hands change, making his hands look clawed. Nandor snarled and hissed as the assassins drew closer, sounding eerily like an enraged mountain lion and looking like one too. His shoulders were raised up, like the hackles on a cat, and he pushed Guillermo behind him more. Guillermo had never, ever seen this side of Nandor before. He looked every bit like the warrior that had ruled his country, standing in a defensive - dare he say protective - stance. It both thrilled and terrified Guillermo at the same time. 

Movement caught Guillermo’s attention. Another figure came into the alley, joining the one that had dragged him by his hair. Glancing around, Guillermo could count seven, possibly eight, council assassins. He turned around and backed up until his own back was flush with Nandor’s. Fear crept into his heart. They were so heavily outnumbered with only a single stake as a weapon between them. Maybe he should have told Nandor the truth about his injury...

“Nandor the Relentless!” The man that had just stepped into the alley called out in an British accent. “Guillermo! For your part in the massacre at Nouveau Théâtre des Vampires and other crimes, you are to die here and now. Surrender now and this ends quickly for the both of you!”

Guillermo could feel Nandor’s back and shoulders shake at the chilling hiss he let out. His answer was clear. They would not be going down without a fight. Guillermo lifted his own stake up in response and pointed it at the three assassins facing him, trying to look as threatening as Nandor sounded.

“Very well,” the same man spoke. “Omoara-i!”

The command was given in a language that Guillermo didn’t understand. Why the British assassin gave a command in another language, Guillermo had no idea but he didn’t need to understand it to know its meaning. The assassin that had dragged him by his hair rushed towards him at an unnatural speed he was all too familiar with by now. Behind him, he could hear Nandor’s boots hitting the ground as he clashed with his own attacker. 

_This isn’t different from the other times you’ve done this. You can do this!_ Except those other times, he had access to more than one weapon. And he had either been at the house or in a brightly lit theatre, not in some dark alley where he could barely see. And he wasn’t sick with an infection that left his head spinning more often than not. The snarling that erupted all around him terrified Guillermo to his very core. For possibly the first time, he truly feared for his life in a fight with these guards. And if he went down, so would Nandor.

He swung a punch at the attacking assassin’s head and ducked down, barely missing the assassin’s gnashing teeth by a fraction of an inch. Grabbing the assassin by his hair, he jerked his head back and pulled the man closer to him, swinging the stake down and plunging it into his chest. 

_That’s one down!_ he thought triumphantly but it was short-lived. He felt something solid collide with his chest and he was flung onto his back, smacking his head against the pavement. The breath was knocked out of him and his vision went blank, his ears ringing. Searing pain spread all over his body, from his side to his chest and his head. Someone straddled his chest, the sudden weight making him gasp for air and rasp out a cry of pain. His vision returned to him just in time for him to make out something shiny and glinting being held above him and he could barely hear someone screaming “No!” in terror and denial. A voice that sounded a lot like Nandor’s. 

All of Guillermo’s strength had been sucked out of him from the fall and he weakly struggled to hold off whatever shiny thing he was about to be hit with. Then suddenly, he felt something wet dripping down onto his face. He blinked rapidly to get it out of his eyes and looked up as another scream ripped through the air but it wasn’t a single word. This was a scream of agony. 

Nandor was standing above him, wrestling with the assassin in an attempt to pull him off of Guillermo. His mouth hung open and it took Guillermo a moment to realize that Nandor was the one screaming but for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why. Nandor's hands were wrapped around the shiny object and he desperately clung to it, screaming the whole while. The assassin was hauled off of him and he watched Nandor fling him at a nearby garbage dumpster. He could hear the shiny object skittering across the ground and it disappeared from view. The man hit the dumpster with a resounding metallic clang, his neck meeting the corner, and he sank to the ground, no longer moving. 

Panic swelled in Guillermo’s chest at an assassin coming into his view at a dead sprint for him. The man fell forward, his jaw making contact with the concrete, the sound of teeth snapping together making Guillermo feel ill. Nandor was there again, dragging the assassin away by his ankles and over to a wall. Guillermo watched Nandor swoop down and seize the man by his hair, lifting him off of his feet before further sinking his fingers into the hair on the back of his head. With a snarl of fury, Nandor hurled him face first into the wall, then proceeded to slam the assassin’s face into the wall over and over and over, until a disgusting crunch rang out. Nandor let go of the man’s hair, letting him slide down the length of the wall, a suspicious dark smear trailing behind him.

Guillermo’s mind was in a haze, not putting two and two together of what Nandor had just done. As he watched Nandor toss these two grown men around like ragdolls, he could feel what was left of his strength slipping away. Stars swam before his eyes and the edges of his vision began to grow dark and blurred. Guillermo pushed his arms beneath himself, struggling to get to his feet, but he couldn’t do it. His arms gave out from under him. They wouldn’t bear his weight and he crashed back down to the pavement, his injured side rubbing against the ground and the stake fell from his hand. He howled in misery, letting his head roll to the side. What he saw made his heart stop.

Nandor was surrounded on all sides. The four remaining assassins were closing in on him. Guillermo tried and failed again at pushing himself to his feet. He collapsed to the ground, unable to move any longer. He could rapidly feel himself losing consciousness and pain wracked every muscle in his body. The last thing that he saw was Nandor disappearing beneath a pile of writhing bodies as the four assassins rushed and overwhelmed him. As Guillermo’s eyes closed, he could hear bone-chilling, agonized screams and the sound of flesh tearing over the snarling. A sickening, wet gurgle filled the air. Everything went black and Guillermo knew no more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Omoara-i" translates to "kill them" in Romanian. There's a reason the assassins are speaking it. 
> 
> Next chapter: Nandor's POV during the fight. The vampires discover Guillermo's injury and make a call to Lilith for help. A new character is introduced.
> 
> I'm so excited to bring this new character!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!! Comments and kudos are always appreciated! <3


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nandor and Guillermo are attacked when the leave CVS, all from Nandor's POV. The vampires discover Guillermo's secret and are forced to call Lilith for help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter contains graphic depictions of violence (fight scene, blood, gore, injuries etc.). You've been warned. Read on at your own risk.

Something was horribly wrong with Guillermo. From the moment Nandor climbed into the coat pocket, he could feel Guillermo’s body heat absolutely radiating off of him through his clothes, like a roaring fire in the middle of a blizzard. Guillermo felt far warmer than he should be. Nandor knew at least that much about how warm humans were supposed to feel. And on top of what could possibly be a fever, Guillermo didn’t smell right. It was a sour smell, one that brought forth nearly long forgotten memories of soldiers ill from infected wounds. 

Somehow Guillermo had become ill right under their noses in a matter of hours. How had they not noticed? They should have noticed something like this right away, what with their heightened senses and all. Could this be why Guillermo had been trying to sneak out of the house? He was going to the - what was it called again - VCS for supplies to treat whatever was wrong with him. Nandor silently cursed himself for not keeping better track of what they had lying around the house in the event that something did happen to one of them. He knew there was a first aid kit in the upstairs bathroom but exactly how old was it? Two years old? Five years? He truly couldn’t remember but there was nothing he could do about it right now. All he could do was ride along inside Guillermo’s pocket and hope that Guillermo was wrong about council assassins following them. 

Nandor couldn’t see anything outside of Guillermo’s pocket. He could only hear what went on around him as Guillermo scurried about the store and he did not care for it. Not being able to see what was happening felt far too much like turning your back on an enemy. There was no way to see what they were doing, no way to anticipate an attack and block it. Guillermo’s logic about this pocket traveling had been sound right up until the moment Nandor realized that Guillermo was sick. Now he felt vulnerable and exposed. If things came down to a fight, Guillermo was going to struggle. He just knew it. An injured or ill warrior made for a slower warrior and that could lead to the one mistake that could spell their downfall. It was the very thing that had kept him awake for the past two nights. One of them anyway.

He was pulled from his thoughts at hearing Guillermo buy whatever it was he had come here for and he tightly clung to his coat as Guillermo stepped back outdoors, listening and waiting for what felt like an inevitable attack. _Please be wrong, Guillermo. Please be wrong._

Guillermo ended up being so very right. Nandor could hear footsteps approaching from their right seconds before Guillermo could and he screeched out a warning, only to realize that Guillermo couldn’t understand him as a bat. They were being dragged backwards along the pavement. Guillermo was struggling wildly to break free but to no avail. Glass could be heard shattering and the glow from the street vanished, the streetlights having been taken out. Nandor didn’t need to see out of Guillermo’s pocket to know that everything had just been plunged into darkness. He would be fine fighting in near pitch darkness, enhanced senses and all, but Guillermo would be a different story. If memory served him right, humans couldn’t see that well in the dark. He needed to get out of this pocket and he needed to get out right now. 

Nandor scrambled and flailed trying to get out of the pocket, nearly getting smacked by an arm that he couldn’t tell who it belonged to. After nearly pulling a claw on a stray thread, he finally flung himself out into the cold air, taking in that they had been dragged into some back alley. Four assassins were coming from the street while another two were behind them, deeper into the alley. He could see Guillermo struggling with his opponent, swaying on his feet but managing to knock the assassin back. Seeing Guillermo knock this assassin away from him, Nandor felt some emotion he couldn’t name swell in his chest for a brief moment, ultimately being replaced with fear as he heard Guillermo cry out in pain. He had enough. 

With a swirl of smoke and his cape, Nandor transformed back to his human form and planted himself in front of Guillermo, reaching back to grab Guillermo by the arm and pull him behind himself. It had been a _long_ time since he had been in a fight but he could feel the changes wash over him, the elongated fangs and fingernails to name a few. The assassins drew closer and he snarled in warning, hissing and daring them to come closer. One challenged him on it and took a step forward, each member of the group snarling back at Nandor in response and Nandor hissed right back at them, raising his shoulders up in a defensive stance. 

All of his previous fears about Guillermo being so new and unseasoned to fighting came flooding back to him. They were about to play out right in front of his eyes. There was a chance that this was it, that he was about to watch Guillermo die. Fear tore its way into his undead heart and buried its claws in deep. He pushed Guillermo behind him one more time. They were outnumbered and he didn’t have any of his weapons from home, not even a simple dagger. 

Just as he felt Guillermo’s back bump against his, he could hear three sets of footsteps coming up from behind them and he whipped his head around to give another snarl of warning. A voice rang out through the alley.

“Nandor the Relentless! Guillermo!” Shit, the council knew Guillermo’s name now. “For your part in the massacre at Nouveau Théâtre des Vampires and other crimes, you are to die here and now. Surrender now and this ends quickly for the both of you!”

Did these assassins seriously think he and Guillermo would lie down and accept this? Nandor didn’t want a fight to happen for Guillermo’s sake. He was ill after all but if it came down to it, he wasn’t going to let himself or Guillermo go down without putting up a fight. He lowered his head, hunched his shoulders forward and let out one long, drawn out hiss, baring his fangs.

“Very well,” the same voice spoke. “Omoara-i!”

The response was immediate. Two assassins ran at him and Nandor rushed to keep as many of them away from Guillermo as he could, his boots slapping against the pavement. They clashed in a whirlwind of snarling and teeth gnashing, each trying to tear into their opponent. Luck seemed to be on his side and he landed what he thought were decent hits, judging from a few pained hisses he received in response. He slashed his clawed hands down one assassin’s head with the intention of sending them back into the wall and kicked out at a second one. Things oddly seemed to be going well. That is until he heard the unmistakable sound of a body hitting the ground and he glanced over his shoulder as his fight between the larger group carried on. 

Guillermo was on the ground, lying flat on his back and looking stunned, not unlike warriors that Nandor had seen be thrown from their horse in battle. He was weakly struggling against an assassin who was straddling his chest pulling a glinting metallic weapon out from beneath their cape. Nandor felt fear claw through his chest again at the sight of the assassin hoisting a dagger high up into the air with the full intention of plunging it into Guillermo’s chest.

“NO!” He heard the scream leave his throat before he was even aware of it. Panic tore through him and he lashed out at his attacker’s with a kick straight at one’s chest, then spun on the spot in a desperate race to reach Guillermo in time, not stopping to see the other assassins fall against each other like dominos. 

The knife nearly began its descent when he lunged out, grabbing for the wrist of Guillermo’s assailant...and completely missed. Rather than grabbing onto the other man, Nandor felt his hands wrap around cold metal and the hissing sound of burning flesh met his ears. The knife deeply cut through his hands, slicing them wide open, and blood began to freely flow down his arms, dripping down onto Guillermo’s face. His jaw fell open and he screamed in anguish, tears springing to his eyes and they streamed down his face. 

The blade was silver. The cursed thing was coated in fucking silver and it _burned_! He couldn’t remember the last time he had felt pain this intense but he couldn’t let go. If he let go, Guillermo would die. This assassin would try to stab Guillermo again and that was not going to happen. 

Gritting his teeth, Nandor gripped the dagger as tightly as he could and pulled backwards, screaming in pain the entire time. The dagger sunk deeper into his hands as he struggled. He clung to the blade like it was a lifeline and wrestled with the assassin for control, all the while hearing the flesh on his hands continue to burn. Something in the man’s arm cracked, giving Nandor the leverage he needed. He dragged the assassin off of Guillermo and hurled him straight at a garbage dumpster, watching the body go limp as the man’s neck made contact with the corner.

The body had barely hit the ground and another assassin was already running for Guillermo, their clawed hands outstretched with murderous intent. Spinning on the spot again, Nandor flung out an outstretched leg, catching the other man in his legs and tripping him. The assassin landed not inches away from Guillermo, his jaw cracking against the ground with a loud snap of his teeth. Not wasting a second, Nandor grabbed the man’s ankles and dragged him to the opposite wall, holding back a hiss of intense pain as fabric rubbed up against the deep wounds on his hands. In that moment, he forgot all about Guillermo, that he was watching this, and he seized the assassin by his hair, flinging him at the wall with unnatural strength. A loud crack rang out, the man’s head meeting the brick and mortar, and he struggled to stand. With an infuriated snarl, he dug his hand into the assassin’s hair again and hauled him to his feet before repeatedly bashing his head into the wall over and over, feeling bones breaking against the wall and seeing blood splatter with every hit. By the second hit, the man had stopped struggling but Nandor didn’t stop until the fourth one, until he was sure that this council lackey wouldn’t get up again. He let go of the assassin’s ruined, caved in head and let the body slide down the wall to the ground, leaving behind a thick smear of blood and other...bits.

He stepped back, turning around to find Guillermo and help him, only to instantly be swarmed by the remaining four assassins. They were in all directions, surrounding him in a circle, and they each darted in to take swipes at his arms or sides, whatever part of him they could reach with their claws and daggers. Nandor kept spinning around as each one took their turn, blocking a few of their attempts but close to half of them were getting through. The claws hurt but the silver edged daggers were near torture, burning and slicing through whatever part of his body they touched with ease. He was centuries out of practice and now he was paying the price for growing too content with his life. The assassins’ tactics were getting the job done as Nandor felt himself growing more and more disoriented with each jab they took at him. He could feel himself growing dizzy and the pain in his hands, arms and sides was beginning to be more than he could out handle. 

Out of the corner of his eyes, Nandor saw Guillermo struggle to get up and fail, falling to the ground with a cry of pain that tore at every one of his fears. He had been distracted for just a moment but it was enough. His eyes bulged in their sockets as he felt a dagger sink into his thigh, followed by claws in his shoulders, and he felt his knees begin to buckle. All four assassins dogpiled on top of him, intent on tearing him apart limb from limb, and Nandor writhed on the ground like an enraged snake, the dagger still buried to the hilt in his leg. 

He wasn’t going to go down like this. He couldn’t! If he died, then so would Guillermo. All he needed to get away was one opening and a weapon. Just one! _Wait, a weapon… The dagger!_ It was a last ditch effort but it could work. 

Wrenching an arm out of someone’s grip, he fumbled around until he found the hilt of the dagger and pulled, screaming so loudly that he felt his voice shake. There was no way to see with the mound of writhing bodies on top of him but that didn’t matter so long as the silver blade met flesh. Nandor blindly swung the dagger around in a wild attempt to drive them back. Shrieks and hisses echoed up and down the alley, the sound of flesh tearing sounding like sweet music to his ears. The assassins were falling away, clutching their own wounds now. One lunged at Nandor’s throat and he slashed the dagger through the air, being met with the uncomfortable coldness that came with a vampire’s blood. The assassin clutched at his throat and collapsed to the ground, trying in vain the staunch the gaping wound in his neck. 

Finally, Nandor had an opening! He pulled himself over the profusely bleeding vampire and leapt over the others, heading straight for the garbage dumpster. Kicking the body he had thrown into the dumpster aside, he sunk his palms into the corner, his claws leaving tears and scratches in the metal. Letting loose a gutteral snarl, he lifted the dumpster with all his strength and threw it at whoever was left, watching in satisfaction as the surviving three were knocked to the ground.

Nandor spun on his heels and raced over to Guillermo, doing his best to ignore the stabbing pains in his body that were coming from too many places to count. Guillermo lay sprawled out on his back and his eyes were closed. Fear tore its way through Nandor’s chest again but he didn’t have time to stop and think about it. He scooped the unconscious Guillermo up into his arms and snatched the VCS bag up. If they really were about to be killed tonight, then he was going to be damned sure that this little white bag wasn’t going to be left behind. He looped the bag over his arm, hoisted Guillermo further up into his arms and ran back the way they had come, vaulting over the assassins that were picking themselves out from under the dumpster. 

Nandor sprinted down the street, fleeing as if hell itself was on his heels. There was no possible way he would be able to concentrate on flying, not in the state he was in, and so he ran with Guillermo draped over his shoulders. He didn’t look behind himself, knowing it would only slow him down if he did, but he could hear the assassins giving chase. They were hissing and taunting him, screaming out what they would do to them if they caught up. That same feeling of panic that he had felt a few nights ago swelled up inside of him again as he ran, settling into his chest with an uncomfortable heaviness.

He rounded the corner of their street and stumbled, his injured leg threatening to give out. They were almost there. He could see the house from here! Just a little bit further and they would be there. The wards those witches laid out had better work. They had to, because he didn’t know what he was going to do if they didn’t. The assassins were right behind them, closing in with every passing second. 

Reaching the little gate to the front yard, Nandor didn’t bother stopping to open it. He simply launched himself over it as he had done before back in the alley and landed on the grass, their grass. A pained gasp tore itself from his lips and he sank down to one knee, his injured leg finally giving out for a moment. Pushing through the pain, he hauled himself back to his feet and stumbled up the front steps but he stopped. Some part of his mind forced him to turn around and see if they were still being followed.

Just outside the fence stood the three assassins, pacing back and forth. They hissed and snarled in his direction, taking hesitant steps forward only to be pushed backwards by some unseen force. Nandor watched in shock as they tried and tried again to come onto the property, failing each time until they seemed to give up after what felt like an eternity. With one final hiss, the one that had given the order to kill turned and fled into the night, taking flight in bat form as the other two closely followed him. 

_So the wards do work. Without them, we would have been…_ They had barely escaped and the thought of what could have happened unnerved Nandor as he stared out at the spot where the assassins had just been standing. The shaking that had taken over his body just two days ago was coming back with a vengeance and he still didn’t know why. What was this? What the hell was wrong with him? _Fucking...whatever this is!_

Nandor turned and began to pound on the front door, one arm wrapped around Guillermo’s back. He screamed at the top of his lungs for any of his housemates to come open the door, genuinely not giving a shit if any of the human neighbors could hear him. 

“Nadja! Laszlo! Colin Robinson! Hurry it up!” he bellowed, beating his fist on the door in a frenzy. “Open this door! Open the fucking door!”

He could hear Laszlo’s voice shout back at him. “Nandor, what the hell are you yelling about? Why are you out-” The words died on Laszlo’s lips when the door swung open to reveal Nandor standing there looking like a horror show. 

Nandor was drenched in blood from his clothes to his hair and it was splattered across his face, most of it belonging to the assassins but some of it was his. Guillermo hung limp in his arms, draped across his shoulder with one arm dangling at his side, dripping blood down it and onto the floor. More blood was splattered across Guillermo’s face as well and a thin trickle of it was coming from somewhere in his hair, running down his neck. 

Laszlo stared at them, his mouth opening and closing like a fish gasping out of water. He found his voice as Nandor pushed him out of the way, going straight for Guillermo’s room. “Nandor, what the fucking hell happened to you?! Where did you go? And what’s wrong with Gizmo?”

Nadja and Colin came running in from wherever they had been in the house, both stopping in their tracks when they saw Nandor carrying Guillermo. “Just help me! We were attacked!” He stooped down, laying Guillermo on the bed and dropping the VCS bag to the floor.

“Attacked?” Nadja asked, coming up behind him and peering over his shoulder at Guillermo. “By who?”

“Council assassins! Who else would it be, Nadja?” Nandor barked back at her. “Guillermo needed some things from the VCS-”

“You mean CVS?”

“That’s what I said, Colin Robinson! We were attacked when we left, by seven of them in some back dingy alley. Three chased us all the way back here.” Nandor wasn’t paying attention. All of his focus was on Guillermo but if he did look up, he would have seen three heads turn and look to the front door, as if they were expecting someone to walk through it. 

“Huh, those wards work then. I guess you two owe Lilith an apology.” Nadja sputtered and sounded flustered at Colin’s statement. Laszlo crept forward into the room to join Colin, both men standing behind Nandor in the now very cramped room. 

“That doesn’t explain what’s wrong with Gizmo.”

“He’s ill, Laszlo! I do not know how or why but he is. I could smell it on him and he’s too warm!” Nandor knew his voice was beginning to sound more frantic but he didn’t know what to do. Guillermo was sick and injured from the fight. He was at a complete loss.

Colin squeezed in between Nandor and Laszlo, ignoring Nandor’s demands of “What are you doing?!” to rest a palm on Guillermo’s forehead. He frowned deeply and turned from the room, muttering that he would be right back and disappeared off in the direction of the basement, returning not a minute later with a little white object in his hands.

“What is that?” Nandor demanded to know, moving to stand between Guillermo and Colin. 

“Will you stop and let me see what his temperature is?” Colin nearly snapped at Nandor. “Look, this is a thermometer. I pinched it from work to annoy the office Karen.” When Nandor still refused to move, Colin let out an exasperated sigh and shoved him out of the way, drawing out a near hiss from Nandor. He pried Guillermo’s mouth open and stuck the end of the thermometer under his tongue, waiting for the telltale beep. Colin sucked in a deep inhale and swore.

“Shit. Okay, this is bad. It’s at 101.8℉.” Colin’s gaze flicked back to Guillermo. He hesitated for a moment, clearly debating on something in his head, then flung the thermometer onto the top of the mini fridge and pulled up the end of Guillermo’s bloodied sweater before anyone could stop him. A makeshift bandage was wrapped around Guillermo’s torso, holding a stained gauze pad in place on his right side. Colin pulled it to the side and swore again. Bright red wounds ran down his side, resembling scratches from claws. They were inflamed and discolored with tinges of yellow, a dark bruise blossoming around it. 

If Nandor’s heart was still beating, it would have stopped. That was an infected wound if he ever saw one. Vivid memories of soldiers dying within days of the onset of infection sprang forth in his mind and every face he had seen die had been replaced with Guillermo’s. Every fear, every single worry he had about Guillermo being a fresh warrior was laughing in his face, mocking him for not being able to anticipate something going wrong. He stood frozen in place despite the searing pains in his leg and hands and stared down at Guillermo, oblivious to the shouting that was going on around him.

“And I’m telling you we can’t take him to a hospital, Nadja!” Colin was standing just behind Nandor. Laszlo and Nadja lingered in the doorway, the tiny room being more cramped than ever. “They were attacked just from walking to the pharmacy! What do you think is going to happen at a public hospital?”

“Well then what the bloody hell are we supposed to do with him?!” Nadja challenged, throwing up her arms in frustration and letting them lightly fall against her skirts. “Humans are so delicate and leaky and….well, just look at him! He’s starting to smell as bad as he looks!” 

“Smell?” Colin shot back. “I can almost taste it and it’s like sucking on a lime. A rotten, moldy lime.”

“Stop fucking talking about limes!” Laszlo butted in. “Who do we know that can deal with stuff like...this? Is there anyone?”

At hearing this, Nandor snapped out of his stupor. They needed someone who could help Guillermo? Truth be told, they hardly knew anyone that fit the bill. It wasn’t as if they had many friends and that was before everything went to shit at the theatre. Although maybe there was one other person? They weren’t exactly on good terms with her but she seemed to like Guillermo. And she did help them once already. It was worth a try. 

Nandor knelt down at Guillermo’s bedside and fumbled around in his coat pockets, nearly recoiling from how uncomfortably warm Guillermo’s body felt and pulled out his phone. He tried a few times to get it to light up but only succeeded in smearing half dried blood across the screen.

“Oh give it here, Nandor,” Colin sighed, snatching the phone out of Nandor’s hands before he could react. “I think we might have the same idea. You’re looking to call Lilith, right?” 

“Lilith again?” Nadja huffed. “It’s not enough that she threw her filthy hexes all over our home. Now you want her here again?!”

Nandor felt a growl building in the back of his throat. He could understand Nadja’s feud with Lilith to a point but he almost had it up to here with everything else that had happened tonight. “Those ‘filthy hexes’ are the only reason we made it back, Nadja. Otherwise, we’d be dead, both of us. I watched those assassins try to get past the fence and they couldn’t do it. She helped us before. Maybe she will do it again.” 

Nandor could still feel himself shaking and thankfully no one had seemed to notice. He turned to Colin and gave him an affirmative nod. “Call her if Guillermo has her...whatever it is you call with.” 

Colin had Guillermo’s phone unlocked in an instant and scrolled through down the screen, dialing up the contact labeled “Lilith.” After a few rings, the other end picked up. “Hey hey, Lilith! I- no, this isn’t Guillermo. It’s Colin Robinson. You know, I’m the- yeah, that’s me! Hey listen, so we have a serious problem over here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ended up being a lot longer than I had initially planned so the new character will be introduced in the next chapter and I'm so excited to start writing him.
> 
> Next chapter: A new character is introduced! Lilith arrives with a friend who claims he can help Guillermo. An argument ensues between Lilith and the vampires.
> 
> Thank you for reading! I love reading your comments and kudos is always appreciated! <3


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lilith arrives with help from an old friend of hers. Memories from Nandor's past are brought up and an argument breaks out. Elsewhere, the carnage Nandor left behind in the alley is uncovered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to Freydient for helping me edit these chapters and for being a lovely person to bounce ideas around with, especially about Corvus! I couldn't have come up with him without you. <3

Lilith was on her way, and she wasn’t going to be alone. She was bringing someone with her, a friend of hers who was a doctor and who she’d vouched for over the phone. Things had been nonnegotiable with her once she heard what had happened and that Guillermo was ill. She was coming with a doctor in tow whether Nadja liked it or not. Until then, Nandor had been in the bathroom, hopelessly trying to address the mess that was his hands after he had washed the drying blood from his body. 

He had barely enough time to move Guillermo up to the big blue room. To him, Guillermo’s old room had felt so cramped he could barely move without running smack dab into the others or tripping over the mini fridge. It wouldn't do with the current situation. He had been halfway up the stairs with the VCS bag when Colin Robinson had shooed him away, claiming that all the blood Nandor had been drenched in was a hazard to Guillermo. So now here he was, trying to fix up his hands and hide all of his wounds, mainly the ones that were rather slow to heal because of the silver daggers. 

He kept running his hands under the faucet with no real results. All it did was make the deep wounds burn and ooze blood every time he tried. With a sigh, he gave up on washing out his hands for the sixth time and resigned himself to using whatever was left in the first aid kit to bandage the wounds. His leg could wait until Lilith was gone and everyone else had fallen asleep. 

Nandor poked his head out of the bathroom, listening to see if anyone came out of the blue room. He snuck downstairs to his crypt, passing by Laszlo who was keeping watch near the front window, armed with his bow and arrow. Slipping into his room, he rummaged around in search of a pair of horseback riding gloves to hide the bandages and a few extra daggers. Nandor found them and gingerly slipped the gloves on, turning out of his crypt and heading back upstairs to the blue room, a falchion sword gently bouncing on his hip as he walked stiffly to cover up a slight limp. 

He pushed open the door to the blue room, once again feeling guilt and the same tightness in his chest that had sporadically been popping up wash over him at the sight of Guillermo lying on the old bed. Guillermo was still unconscious but relatively cleaned up, despite the sweat that shone on every inch of his exposed skin. His hair was slick with sweat, making it stick to his face, and a damp washcloth laid over his forehead and temples. A towel had been placed under his head to keep the wound they had found from trickling blood all over the pillow. Colin sat in a chair at Guillermo’s side with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows as he cleaned up the nasty scratches on Guillermo’s arm. A bowl of water sat beside the bed on a nightstand that was littered with the contents of the VCS bag, all of it for wound care and fevers. Nandor winced, feeling like a complete fool for not realizing just how sick Guillermo had become in such a short amount of time. 

At the creak of the door opening, Colin stopped wringing out the wet towel in his hands and glanced over his shoulder at Nandor. “Hey there. Have a nice scrub in the tub? You don’t look like Texas chainsaw anymore."

Nandor stifled an annoyed groan at Colin’s obvious attempt at cracking a joke that only Guillermo would probably understand. “I saw Laszlo downstairs by the door. Where’s Nadja?”

“I asked her to go down to the kitchen and see if we still have any ice in the freezer. For Guillermo.” Colin turned back to Guillermo, wiping down the scratches again. “Of course, that depends on if the fridge still works. The thing is so gosh darn old. Oh, and Lilith is almost here by the way. Maybe five minutes out?”

Nandor hummed softly in response, not entirely sure how ice chips could help Guillermo right now. It wasn’t like he was awake to eat them. He walked up to Colin and held out one of the daggers for him to take. 

Colin turned to Nandor again, giving him a questioning eyebrow raise. “What’s this for?”

“Obviously it’s for you. Laszlo is already armed with his bow.”

“Right, there’s only one problem. I don’t know how to use that.” 

Nandor blinked at Colin. “You’re kidding.”

“No, I’m not,” Colin replied, not an ounce of humor in his voice. “You were a warrior so you had to know your way around swords and knives. Laszlo obviously used to hunt for fun. Even Nadja knows more than me. So does Guillermo. I don’t know the first thing about all the weapons in this house.”

Nandor set the dagger down on the nightstand anyway. He was about to say something along the lines of “no time like the present” when the doorbell rang, echoing through the silent house. Both men looked at the other and said “Lilith” at the same time. Nandor was out the door and down the hall before Colin could get out of his chair, taking the steps two or three at a time. 

Laszlo was already on his feet and heading for the door, his bow slung over his shoulder. Nandor was right behind him. Together they peered out the little window in the door. Lilith stood on the porch, clad in a winter coat. A man stood just behind her with his back mostly turned to the door, gazing out onto the street. From behind him, Nandor could hear Colin and Nadja walking up. With a glance and a nod to Laszlo, he unlocked the front door and opened it.

Lilith looked almost the same as before, although now her hair was tied back in a loose ponytail, a knitted dark green beanie atop her head. The man behind her was taller, maybe an inch or two shorter than Nandor. When the door opened, he turned around to face them. He was dressed for the weather, wearing a deep brown colored trench coat with the rain guard being a rich, dark chestnut color, and gloves that matched the coat. The rest of him was dressed in black pants and boots that reached his mid calves, a white undershirt, a light tawny colored vest and a dark emerald green tie. Two leather bags were slung over his shoulders. His hair was dark brown with gray streaks in it and it was neatly tied back but the texture gave the appearance that his hair was most likely wavy if he wore it down. He was pale and had gray eyes that were oddly warm and kind looking in spite of their striking color that contrasted with the earthy tones of his clothing.

Nadja and Lilith locked eyes and seemed to glare at each other, then Lilith turned her attention to Colin. “Well, we’re here as I said we would be. Are you going to invite us in or not?”

“I didn’t think witches needed to be invited in?” Colin asked, watching the other man with mild curiosity. 

Before Lilith could answer, Nandor noticed something as this stranger flashed Colin a warm smile. Two unmistakable fangs poked out from between his lips and Nandor wasn’t the only to take heed of it. He could hear quick inhales and hisses from behind him. A hiss of his own was building in his throat.

“Why the hell have you brought another vampire here, Lilith?” Laszlo demanded to know, pulling the bow off of his shoulder. 

Lilith quickly moved to place herself between this stranger vampire and the four of them. “I told you over the phone. He’s a close friend of mine and I vouch for him. And he’s the best doctor you’ll find outside of a hospital.” 

Nandor didn’t trust this, not after he had to fight for his life in some dirty, dank alley. The lingering burning pain in his hands and leg were a stark reminder of that. “You know what we went through tonight and you still brought another vampire here? We do not know him!”

“I understand that,” Lilith attempted to reassure them. “I do. But if he was really a threat, don’t you think the wards I made would have kept him out? You saw them work in action, didn’t you?” 

He frowned, knowing that she was right. Those three assassins had wished nothing but harm and death upon them tonight. The wards had kept them out of the yard and yet here this other vampire was, standing on their front doorstep and clearly inside the wards. “You... you have a point.”

When no one spoke right away, the other vampire cleared his throat, drawing all the attention back to him. 

“I apologize if I’ve caused your house any distress tonight. Lilith filled me in on what happened on the drive here and that was not my intent.” The vampire cautiously stepped forward, speaking in a German accent. It was prominent in his voice but it had a sound to it like it had been influenced by English over a long period of time. “My name is Corvus Waldron and I am indeed a doctor. I used to be a plague doctor before I turned, if that puts you more at ease.” 

“A plague doctor?” Colin asked. “You mean with those weird bird masks and the whole miasma thing?”

“Ja, that would be me, although I haven’t believed in miasma theory in centuries, thank goodness.” Corvus answered Colin’s question with a slight chuckle. “Now, I believe you called for us because a member of your household is ill. May I enter your home?”

There was clear hesitation between everyone. Nandor glanced behind him to gauge his housemates’ responses and when no one seemed to object, he turned back to Lilith and Corvus, giving them a quick nod. “Alright, fine. Get in here. But you,” Nandor raised a gloved- and secretly bandaged- hand, and pointed a finger at Corvus. “I will be watching you.” 

“That’s quite understandable.” The pair entered the house and left their coats at the coat rack, Nandor shutting the door behind them. Corvus slung his bags back over his shoulders and clapped his hands together, turning to Nandor. “Now then, where is- his name is Guillermo, correct?”

“Yes, he’s Guillermo. He’s-” Nandor nearly stumbled over his words, barely catching himself. “He’s this way.” 

One by one, Nandor led them up the stairs and into the blue room where Guillermo was. Corvus went to sit at the side of the bed, laying a hand across Guillermo’s sweaty forehead, and Nandor could feel himself bristling at the sight of this strange vampire in their home, touching Guillermo. Lilith may trust this man but he didn’t. How could he? By now, word was probably spreading about the theatre and there was no way to really tell that this vampire was what he claimed to be. If this man, this Corvus, raised his fangs at any of them, Nandor was ready to put a stop to it even if it cost them Lilith’s protections. He unconsciously wrapped a hand around the grip of his sword and watched Corvus lift away the gauze that had been covering Guillermo’s side. 

While Nandor had been watching Corvus, Lilith had come up to stand beside him, one hand partially over her mouth and a look of pure shock on her face. “I don’t understand. How did this happen? He was fine last night.”

“Well, not necessarily.”

“What do you mean by that, Colin Robinson?” Nandor broke his gaze away from Guillermo to turn it to Colin.

“Last night when Guillermo forced the front door open, he made this weird gasping noise. He almost sounded like he was in pain. Then he made that dash for the bathroom and stayed in there for like an hour. I thought it was a bit weird but-”

“And you didn’t say anything?” Nandor snapped at him. Of course Colin would be the one to keep information like that to himself. 

“Hey, I didn’t think much of it at the time! I thought he was just tired. He had been running around the city all day,” Colin protested, his hands raised slightly in a show of innocence. “I think he might have hid this from us.”

“It would appear that way,” Corvus spoke up from the bed, gently prodding Guillermo’s injury with some blunt metal tool. The sight of it made Nandor tighten his grip on his sword. “I would say infection set in not long after he received this injury.”

“But you can fix it?” Nandor found himself asking even with his mistrust of the man.

“Oh absolutely,” Corvus replied, not at all sounding too worried. “I can drain and thoroughly wash out the wound. I’ll do the same with his other injuries, then start him on antibiotics tonight. We won’t know if he has a concussion until he wakes but for now, it’s best to keep things quiet and knock his fever down.” 

A weight was lifted off of his shoulders. It hadn’t been something Nandor was completely aware of until that moment. “So...he will be alright?”

“Yes, he will.” A small smile flashed across Corvus’ lips and he turned to look at Nandor. “However, some of you may want to step out. Draining the injury is not going to smell pleasant.”

Laszlo made a quiet noise of distaste. “Right. Well, I’m off to keep watch at the door. Coming, my darling?” Nadja took his outstretched hand and the couple walked off down the hallway. Colin took off after them, probably to annoy the couple for an ounce of energy, but not before taking the dagger Nandor had offered to him earlier, leaving only the three of them in the room with Guillermo.

“Nandor,” Lilith spoke, directly addressing him for possibly the first time, “if you and Corvus have everything well in hand, then I’m going to pop downstairs and see if I can get something to eat for him.” She gestured to Guillermo as she spoke. “He’ll need food when he wakes up.” 

“Fine. Do whatever you want.” With Lilith out of the room, that was one less distraction and Nandor could keep all of his focus on Corvus. Make sure he wasn’t going to try anything suspicious. He paid no attention to Lilith as she gathered up Guillermo’s bloodied discarded shirt and left the room, leaving him alone with Corvus.

Nandor fiddled with the pommel of his sword and wandered over to an old armchair that sat in the corner, covered in a dust sheet that he pulled off and dropped on the floor. He sat perched on the edge of the chair, ready to step in at the slightest notice, as he watched Corvus work. So far, the man went about his task exactly as he said he would, breaking open the wound and draining it of its gross fluids. Nandor had to take a moment to look away, the smell of blood and pus stirring up his last memories of John. 

-

He and his army had been stranded after a long siege and battle, with a dwindling food supply and with those who had injuries beyond repair having to be left behind. Those who couldn’t be saved had been a drain on their already limited resources. He remembered having to do the rounds on the injured each morning before dawn, having to make the final call on who could stay and who could not, and he would never forget that consuming stench of illness, decay, and death among the injured and dying. It had been a horrible ordeal each time, walking up and down the rows, having to look at soldiers who had been the picture of health just days prior, then consumed with everything from simple illnesses that overwhelmed them to rot settling in a limb. It had been gruesome, listening to his dying men plea to be spared, but it had been a choice between wasting food on the soon-to-be-dead or having enough for the living to see another sunrise. They had long since left the final party of injured soldiers behind when the decision had to be made to turn to their horses as a source of food and salvation. Camp had been set up in one location for days as the cooks desperately attempted to preserve the meat, and it was only when the horses had begun to rot that help finally arrived from an allied kingdom. That campaign had been a living hell, and it was the second to last one Nandor had seen before he was turned. 

-

With a sigh, he shook his head, pushing those memories down to the farthest corner of his mind where they couldn’t bother him anymore. This situation he found himself in now wasn’t anywhere near the same, yet he couldn’t shake the feeling that something terrible was coming. The council had gone from sending assassins to kill them in secret to openly attacking them in public, in full view where any human could see it. There was no other way he could describe this feeling to himself, that cursed feeling of impending doom, but things weren’t going to end the way they did during that campaign from hell. Nandor wouldn’t allow it. 

“Nandor? Nandor!” 

A voice snapped him back from his memories and he looked up, blinking the exhaustion out of his eyes. He had barely slept since all of this had begun and it was wearing him down. “Hmm? I’m sorry, what?”

Corvus had turned to face him, eyeing him up and down with a look Nandor couldn’t place. The man’s eyes lingered on his hands for a second, then he shook his head and gave him a soft smile. “It’s quite alright. I was only saying that I’m finished for now.”

“Already?” Nandor looked at Guillermo in mild surprise. His injured arm and side had some kind of wet bandage laid over them and the smell that had swooped Nandor down his rabbit hole of memories was gone. 

“Ja, it’s only been about forty minutes. The gauze has antibacterial ointment on it,” he explained, taking note of what Nandor was looking at. “It needs to stay for a half hour before I can stitch up his arm and wrap the wounds. Now, how about you?”

“I- uh….” 

Nandor couldn’t get out another word. Somewhere in the house, he could hear a door slam shut and footsteps stomping in the downstairs hallway. 

“NADJA!” Lilith’s yell traveled up the stairs and she sounded pissed. “All of you get your arses down here right the hell now!”

He rose out of the chair and closely followed Corvus, thundering down the stairs behind him with a hand once again wrapped around his sword grip. There was no way he was letting him out of his sight until he knew what all the yelling was about. The two men nearly collided with Lilith as she stormed out of the hall, outraged, and the others sat around one window with looks of bewilderment. Nadja stood and moved herself in front of Laszlo, already hissing at Lilith.

“Oh shut it, Nadja!” Lilith fired back at her.

“Lilith, what’s wrong?”

“Oh, I’ll tell you what’s wrong, Corvus! There isn’t a single scrap of food in this house! All I found was cheap canned soup and it was all expired! And why doesn’t your fridge work? Do none of you use it?!” Lilith was positively fuming, outrage laced in every word.

“We do use it! It’s down in the basement!” Nadja hissed, still standing in front of Laszlo, who sidestepped around his wife.

“Not the one that had blood in it! I’m talking about the one in your kitchen! Your threadbare, empty kitchen! And while I’m at it, let’s talk about the fact that you don’t have a washer or dryer. I found that little fun fact out when I went to try and wash Guillermo’s bloodied clothes for him! And I know goddamn well -” The vampires hissed at Lilith’s swearing, everyone but Colin and Corvus. “-that what you call the blue room is _not_ Guillermo’s bedroom. There’s not a single thing that belongs to him in that room. Fuck, there were dust covers on the furniture!”

“Make your point, Lilith!” 

“My point? _My point?!_ ” Lilith half laughed and asked incredulously. “My point is how long has Guillermo lived like this? With barely any food, no amenities and sleeping in a closet? And don’t you start to tell me that it’s because he moved out for a week! I know that’s bullshit, Nadja! Please tell me he hasn’t lived this way for eleven years!”

Nadja’s only response was to hiss back at Lilith and move to stand in front of her husband again, making herself act as a shield between Lilith and Laszlo. Lilith turned to Laszlo next.

“Laszlo? Has Guillermo lived like this all this time?” Laszlo stumbled over his words and when he didn’t have an answer right away, Lilith rounded on Nandor. “Well?! He was your familiar!”

Nandor had to look away from Lilith. Her tirade made him think back to the night Guillermo had left him for that Celeste and the promises he had made to Guillermo, that he was going to make things better, but it hadn’t been enough. Guillermo had left again. And now here was Lilith, hurling everything that Guillermo had probably wanted to ask for but didn’t in his face. If the bathroom had been stocked up for Guillermo, he would not have found it necessary to leave the house when they still had no idea what danger they could be in. They wouldn’t have been attacked and perhaps none of this would be happening. Everything that had happened to them, it was all his fault. 

“Are you- I can’t believe…” Lilith floundered for words and looked between them all, the men avoiding her wrath by looking away while Nadja openly glared at her. “You know what, now I see why Guillermo left twice. And why he got so sick so fast. You expected him to work for nothing, without anything he needed and without a shred of gratitude, living in a closet like he’s...I don’t know, like he’s fucking Harry Potter. You treated him like shit and you know it! All the while he lied for you!” 

She rounded on Nandor again, pointing an aggressive accusatory finger right in his face. He shrank back and did nothing to stop her. “He _killed_ for you! He protected all of you for nearly a year and you were too wrapped up in yourselves to even notice what was happening. And you, Nadja!" Lilith spun on her heels to face Nadja, her long ponytail whipping around her head. "I cannot believe you would let Guillermo live like this, like he’s destitute poor. What happened to the Nadja I knew, hm? The one who went poor and hungry and struggled to make ends meet, who told me that she hated that life and didn't want to see others live that way. But you turn around and force Guillermo to live like that under _your_ roof?!"

"How _dare_ you?!" Nadja gasped, holding a hand to her chest in offense. "You’ve no right to bring up my past like-"

"Oh, yes I do! The Nadja I used to be friends with over a hundred years ago would not have acted this way!" Lilith fired back before addressing Nandor again. "I have half a mind to march back upstairs and take Guillermo back to my coven because unless you seriously do something to fix this, you’ll lose him forever!” 

_Fucking_ \- no. In a way, Nandor knew Lilith was right. With the calamity they were in, they had to be at their best. They couldn’t afford any infighting and Guillermo couldn’t go off on his own, not after tonight. If he remembered right, Guillermo had been living with his mother. There could be the chance, as small as it may be, that she would become a target. If Guillermo left again, anyone he came in contact with regularly could be in danger and he would be a living bullseye. 

It took a few attempts at clearing his throat to find his voice. “You’re….you may have a point again.” He could see Nadja bristling at the fact that he was even agreeing with Lilith. “She’s right, Nadja! You know where we would be right now without Guillermo.” Ignoring Nadja, he looked Lilith straight in the eyes. “What can I do? What can we do?”

Lilith raised a hand and began to list things one by one of her fingers. “He gets to stay in that room. Replace the fridge. Buy him whatever groceries he needs. Buy a washer and dryer so you’re not risking your lives just to do laundry. And anything else he needs, he gets it. I know you all have the money so get it done. He deserves at least that much after eleven years of this shit. Now I’m going to go order food for him before I say something I’ll regret.” 

She pushed past Nandor and walked off back down the hall, passing by an equally irate Corvus. Before she walked off, she spun back around, pointing at them. “Fix this or you’ll lose him. I can and will offer him a place to stay if you don’t because quite frankly, none of you deserve Guillermo.” 

Those words tore at him but deep down, Nandor knew she was right.

* * *

He walked down the street, brazenly out in the open with Gareth and one of the remaining guards at his side. Both men were his people. The other survivor had been sent off to rest elsewhere, out of his hair for the time being. The trio stepped up to the darkened alley, easily able to see the carnage in the dark but a passing human wouldn’t give so much as a second glance with this many streetlights being dark. 

“This is it?”

“Yes, sir,” Gareth dutifully replied in his English accent. “The four bodies are still here.” 

“You did well in coming to me before Tilda. Well done, Gareth.” He could sense Gareth beaming with pride next to him but paid him little mind. 

He stepped further into the alley. Just as Gareth had reported, four guards laid scattered around the alley with three clearly dead. One had a stake driven into his chest. Another had his head caved in beyond repair and the other had his throat slit open all the way down to the bone, bled out as a result. The culprit, a silver dagger, sat on the ground next to the dead vampire’s head, his eyes dull and unseeing. It was a shame, truthfully. This one had shown such promise in the last few months. 

A wheeze from near the garbage dumpster drew his attention. Picking up the dagger, he wandered over to the guard and turned him over onto his back with his foot, looking down at him. The vampire’s neck stuck out at an unnatural angle, clearly broken from making contact with the harsh corner of the dumpster. Without batting an eye, he grabbed the guard by his hair and knelt down, sinking the dagger into the man’s chest and spearing him through the heart. This one had been trouble right from the beginning. He had been new to the council’s guard and quickly proved to be a liability, refusing to take his offers and threatening to inform Tilda. No matter, that was one pest taken care of for him. Nandor really hadn’t lost his touch after all these years. 

Dusting his hands off, he stood and turned to his two men. “Stay away from the house for the next week or until I saw otherwise. Let them believe they’re safe, especially Nandor.” 

“But sir,” the other guard spoke up. “I thought your orders were to kill both the human and Nandor the Relentless.” 

“And when, pray tell, did I say that?”

“Well, you said to stop them by any means necessary and-”

He rushed forward and seized the guard by his collar, slamming him up against the wall directly above the dead guard, the half dried blood further smearing across the bricks. The guard in his grasp looked down at the head that had been crushed like a watermelon and he swallowed thickly. 

“We do not have the luxury of making mistakes! Not if we want to accomplish our mission.” He spoke to the guard in a quiet snarl, no amount of sympathy in his voice “I said to stop the human by any means necessary and incapacitate Nandor, not attempt to tear him apart. Did I say I wanted Nandor dead?!” 

The guard furiously shook his head. “N-No, sir!”

He unceremoniously dropped the guard directly onto the corpse and turned to Gareth. “That order goes double for you. You should know better. Kill the human and the other three vampires when the time comes but Nandor is to remain as unharmed as possible and alive. Do I make myself clear?!”

Both guards nodded and dipped their heads down to him, murmuring their agreement. 

“Now come. It’s time for you to tell Tilda what happened here tonight.” 

He walked out of the alley with his men trailing behind him. Nandor had been the one to take out three of the four now dead guards, more than proving that he was as capable as he ever was in battle. Maybe with enough persuasion, he could get through to his dear, old friend. Times were going to be changing in the vampiric community if he had the final say. And Nandor needed to be on the right side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Meet Corvus everyone! There will be a few OCs for this fic and he's one of them. He'll be a reoccurring character throughout the fic and I'm really looking forward to writing him more. 
> 
> Next chapter: Guillermo regains consciousness and meets Corvus. Discussions are had on where to go from here. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! <3


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guillermo is caught up to speed on what happened and meets Corvus. Nandor is literally caught red-handed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you as always to Freydient for helping me with ideas and beta-reading this!

He slowly began to wake up, feeling groggy and like he was coming out of a fog. It didn’t take long for memories of the alley to come flooding back to him and he woke with a start, greeted by the sight of the blue room. Wait....the blue room? Hadn’t he and Nandor been attacked in that alley? Did he hallucinate the whole thing and he was simply ill the whole time? 

Guillermo looked at the faded blue paint on the wall opposite to himself, completely baffled by how he had gotten here. He noticed a small table had been dragged into the room. It certainly hadn’t been in here before and its surface was covered in medical supplies, far more than what he had bought at CVS. There was gauze, bandages, disinfectant, simple surgical tools, a few leather bags and he swore he could see antibiotics. And speaking of CVS, the little white bag had been discarded onto the floor, poking out from behind the table. 

_Okay....so maybe I didn’t hallucinate the whole thing after all._ Guillermo pushed himself up in bed just enough for his bare skin to glide against blankets, making him realize that his shirt was gone. He looked down and moved the blankets away to see someone had not only cleaned him up - his hair felt cleaner - but they had taken care of his wounds. His side was freshly bandaged and the burning sensation he had felt before was a little muted now. He still felt warm but it was an improvement. His right arm was bandaged as well and he could feel the tight tug of stitches beneath the clean white bandages. Someone had stitched his wounds closed. Since when did any of the vampires know how to do this? Or have the supplies to get it done? 

A soft snore nearly made him jump out of his skin and his head snapped over to the sound, causing his jaw to drop open in surprise. Nandor was fast asleep on the old couch that had been in this room for years. One of the fur blankets from his crypt  
was laid over him, coming just up to his waist so Guillermo could see what Nandor was wearing: his usual white blouse but nothing else. The typical vests and shirts he would wear over the blouse were missing. Nandor’s hair was down and it looked damp, as if it had been recently washed. His usual bun wasn’t there either. Fingerless gloves adorned his hands, seeming a bit out of place for Nandor, but Guillermo pushed the fleeting thought aside. That wasn’t what concerned him. What _did_ concern him were the visible dark circles beneath his eyes. Nandor might be a vampire but he still needed his sleep just like Guillermo did. And Nandor looked exhausted as he lay there curled up on his side, one arm tucked up against his stomach and the other one dangled over the edge of the couch. 

Countless questions were running through Guillermo’s head. Had Nandor carried him back to the house? Were they safe? Were the others safe? And what had become of the assassins? Rather than wait for Nandor to wake up, Guillermo wanted answers and he wanted them now. 

“Nandor? Nandor!”

The vampire snored away, stirring briefly but falling right back to sleep. Guillermo sighed and glanced to the nightstand for anything he could use to wake Nandor up. An unopened package of bandages sat there. He snatched it up and gently lobbed it at Nandor’s head, only putting enough force behind it to try and wake him up. His aim hit the mark and the package smacked Nandor square between his eyes, bouncing off of his brow and rolling across the floor. 

Nandor jolted awake with a muffled snort, his eyes sleepily blinking open as he widely yawned and looked around for whatever woke him. It didn’t take more than a few seconds for his wandering eyes to land on Guillermo. Nandor stared at him and in the blink of an eye he was scrambling to get up from the couch, his legs getting tangled in the fur blanket and sending him sliding down to the floor before he could even get a word out. The blanket fell to the floor with him, revealing the rest of Nandor’s body and the sword he had hanging off of the belt at his hip. Both men rushed to speak as Nandor clambered back to his feet. 

“Guillermo! You’ve awakened! Are you feel-” Nandor didn’t get any further with his question. A constant stream of Guillermo’s own questions silenced him, quickly making things rather one-sided. 

“Nandor, what happened?! How did we get back here? Where are the assassins? Why am I in the blue room and where did all the extra medical stuff come from?” Guillermo looked over to the table as he shoved his glasses onto his face, completely ignoring the overwhelmed wince on Nandor’s face. Those were definitely antibiotics sitting in the little orange plastic bottle he saw. “What did you do? Rob the CVS?”

“I- er, well I….what?” After a few moments of sputtering over his words, Nandor seemed to find his voice. “Yeesh, Guillermo. One question at a time. I did not hear half of what you said.”

Guillermo felt the urge to get annoyed at how easily his words went in one ear and out the other, but he figured he could cut Nandor some slack. He did just throw a flood of questions at him after all. “Alright, I’ll start with the last one. I didn’t buy half of what’s on that table, so where did you get those meds?”

The overwhelmed look was back on Nandor’s face as quickly as it had disappeared. “Uh….well, you see-” For a second time, Nandor was cut off before he could finish his sentence. A knock sounded at the door and a very familiar voice came from the other side. 

“Nandor? Can we come in?” 

It was Lilith. Guillermo pushed himself up in bed, adjusting himself up higher against the headboard while he watched the door, giving Nandor a small side glance. Had Nandor called Lilith here? Was she the one who had brought all these medical supplies? Before Guillermo could begin to try and answer his own questions himself, Nandor gave the all clear to come in and the door opened to reveal Lilith and a stranger standing behind her, someone Guillermo could immediately place as another vampire. It wasn’t hard for him to pick one out of a crowd. Living in a house full of vampires for eleven years could do that to a person. 

“Lilith, behind you!” Guillermo called out a warning as a trill of panic swept through him. He frantically began to look around for a stake and laid eyes on a dagger sitting atop the bedside nightstand. It would have to do. He went to grab it but was stopped by a hand gently holding him back, keeping him from reaching the weapon. His head whipped back around to see Nandor at his side, coaxing him away from the dagger. 

“Nandor, why-” 

Now it was his turn to be cut off. Lilith came rushing into the room and over to Guillermo, dropping down to sit beside him on the bed and leaving the strange vampire to stand in the doorway. 

“Guillermo! Dear, it’s alright!” Lilith had an arm reached out to Guillermo, resting a hand on his shoulder and subtly trying to nudge the dagger out of view, but her movement wasn’t lost on Guillermo. “He’s not a threat. He-”

“What do you mean he’s not a threat?! He’s a vampire and we don’t know him!” He shot back, his voice cracking from how dry his throat felt. It was something he hadn’t realized until that very moment but he felt parched. Pushing the feeling aside, Guillermo tried to reach for the dagger again but Lilith knocked it to the floor entirely, pushing it out of his reach with her foot.

“Yes, he’s a vampire but he’s not a threat! The wards wouldn’t let him in if he was, remember?” Lilith watched Guillermo as he stopped searching for a weapon and looked back at her. “He’s an old friend of mine. I swear he’s only here to help.” 

“You’re sure?” Guillermo stole a glance at this supposed friend of Lilith’s. The vampire had not come any closer to them, still standing in the doorway with one shoulder leaning against the dark wood, his hands neatly crossed in front of his belt buckle. If he had been human, this vampire probably would have been older than any of them, appearing to be well into his 40s judging from his graying brown hair, aged face and the demeanor to match. His clothes made him look as if he had been pulled straight out of the 1920s: formal pants, a crisp white dress shirt, a vest and tie. All that seemed to be missing was a matching jacket and trench coat. 

Lilith nodded. “I am, dear. I wouldn’t have called him otherwise.” She motioned for her friend to come closer, which he did, but cautiously.

On the other side of the bed, Guillermo could see Nandor tense up and drop a hand to his sword as the other vampire came closer, even though Nandor had been holding Guillermo back from the dagger just moments ago. Lilith’s friend came to stand beside her and what he did next completely floored Guillermo. The man picked the dagger up from the floor and placed it back on the nightstand - well within Guillermo’s reach - and knelt on the floor in front of him, putting himself within stabbing range. 

“I apologize if I caused you any alarm this evening. Truthfully, that was not my intent.” The vampire spoke in a very clear and somewhat heavy German accent, although it sounded partially muddled like he had spent long lengths of time around non-German speaking people. He sounded calm and collected, not at all frantic as Guillermo had just been. “My name is Corvus Waldron. Your friend, Colin, called Lilith. He informed her that you were ill and so she called me. I am a practicing physician, a doctor.”

“A vampire doctor? Seriously?” Guillermo arched an eyebrow at him in a look of disbelief. 

“Ja, I am a former plague doctor as well. Here, these may help put you at ease.” Corvus reached into his pocket, pulling out two little cards and a cell phone, and offered the cards out for Guillermo to take.

The first card was a deep pine colored green with silver designs of branches and vines running along the edges. _“Crow’s Nest Apothecary”_ was stamped on the front in a beautiful calligraphy style, being the same silver color as the designs. The outline of a bird sat atop the capitalized “C” and beneath the name read the words “flowers, herbs and teas” with little circles separating each word. Flipping the card over, he saw the address - 5031 Mulberry Lane New York, NY 11206 - and names for social media pages. He moved on to the second card and, compared to the first one, this card was much more simple. It was a deep midnight blue color with the same silver calligraphy as the other card but the branches and vines were missing. The bird outline was still sitting on top of the writing that read _“Crow’s Nest Infirmary.”_ Beneath that name was the address and the phrase _“serving the supernatural community since 1920.”_

Guillermo looked up from the cards to see Corvus pulling up something on the phone using a small stylus, holding it out for him to take a look at. Sure enough, a Facebook page for the apothecary shop was right there on the screen, the most recent post having been from two days ago. 

He looked up from the phone and over to the table where the orange bottle full of antibiotic pills sat, then turned his head to look at Nandor. “He’s telling the truth?”

Nandor gave Guillermo a nod and let his hand fall away from his sword, something that Guillermo made a mental note to ask him about. “He appears to be. He showed us his other - what are they called again- pages of media on that little cellular device.”

"It’s called social media, Nandor." Guillermo gently corrected Nandor. He didn't pay much attention to the wince playing out on Nandor’s face at the mention of his name, opting to ignore it rather than think too long about it. Instead, he turned to Lilith and Corvus. "So you two know each other? And Colin called you here? What happened? How long was I out for? What the hell is going on?" 

The three of them shared a brief glance before Lilith answered him. “Well for starters, you were out all night and most of the day. It’s nearly evening now.”

“I was _what?”_ Guillermo nearly choked out in surprise, blinking a few times to clear the pain that was building near one particular spot on the back of his head. It had started as a dull ache when he woke up but was beginning to turn into an uncomfortable stinging pain. 

“It was to be expected,” Corvus began to explain. “You were running a high fever when we arrived. That - combined with the lacerations, head injury and blood loss you sustained - it’s no wonder you were out for a day.”

“Head injury?” Guillermo instinctively brought a hand up to feel around for the throbbing knot on his head. He was barely able to get his hand past his ear when it was brought to a halt by Corvus’ quick vampiric reflexes, then gently pulled away from his face to rest in his lap again. 

“Ah ah, I wouldn’t do that, Guillermo. You might have a concussion. Nandor said you took a rather hard fall during the fight.” As he spoke, Corvus bent down to retrieve something out of a leather satchel, pulling out a clean bundle of bandages and motioned for Guillermo to hold out his injured arm.

After a moment of hesitation, Guillermo let Corvus work but still kept a watchful eye on him, despite the man proving his shop and clinic were real. Lilith seemed to trust him but Guillermo wasn’t so sure, not right now anyway. No one in the house knew him and until he proved himself to be trustworthy, Guillermo decided he would keep an eye on him as much as he could until he could get a grasp on the type of person Corvus was. 

“You guys still haven’t told me how I got back here. The last time I saw you,” he said, looking over at Nandor as his dirty bandages were tossed in a trash can, “those assassins were overwhelming you and I thought….” Guillermo didn’t finish the thought and shook his head, regretting doing so as his head throbbed from the movement. “How did we get away?”

Guillermo could almost hear the gears in Nandor’s head turning, watching him fumble with his hands for a moment and wincing. He seemed to settle on an answer as he nodded and met Guillermo’s eyes. 

“I killed them, all but three.” 

He felt himself freeze and slowly spoke. Dread slowly began to pool in the pit of his stomach. “You….you did what?”

Nandor shrugged his shoulders, avoiding Guillermo’s gaze by watching Corvus wrap clean gauze and bandages around Guillermo’s injured arm. “We had to get away and it was not like they would let us leave quietly. I did what needed to be done. It is not a big deal.” 

Guillermo sputtered and stared at Nandor, surprised with how nonchalantly he was reacting to being attacked out in the open. “It is a big deal. Three of them escaped, right? Now the council definitely knows you’ve killed other vampires.”

“Vampires who attacked us first, Guillermo. It is not a crime to defend yourself.” 

“But the council sent them there to find us. They said it themselves. We both heard it. I don’t think they’re going to see things the same way, Nandor!” His dread was quickly turning into a wave of anxiety. Nandor was acting a little too calm for his liking. They had been attacked yet here Nandor was, wearing a sword on his belt, making Guillermo believe he was feeling a little more apprehensive than he was letting on. Guillermo felt a gentle tug on his arm and looked down to see Corvus securing the bandage in place.

“In any case, it’s a problem that won’t be solved tonight.” Corvus turned to his bag again to pull something else out, this time being a tiny flashlight and a thermometer. “Now, since you hit your head, you may have a concussion. I need to check for that along with checking your temperature again.”

Guillermo hesitated and took a good look at Corvus’ expression, a perfect picture of collected calm and politeness. It didn’t seem like he had bad intentions but then again he could just be rather good at lying. And Guillermo didn’t feel like he was all that great at reading strangers, even after all these years of hunting down virgins for Nandor and the others. Still, even if Corvus was to try something, he wouldn’t have a great chance at succeeding with Nandor and Lilith in the room. All in all, Guillermo told himself they would step in if things became heated. With that, he nodded his consent. 

“Excellent.” Corvus nodded in return and turned to the table, picking up a pocket sized flashlight. “Let’s get the concussion out of the way. All I need you to do for me is follow the light with your eyes and close them if I ask. Tell me if the light bothers you in any way. Can you do that for me?”

Guillermo nodded again and followed the light when Corvus clicked the flashlight on, mumbling that it actually did feel a little too bright. Corvus silently nodded and continued, requesting Guillermo to close his eyes so he could repeatedly shine the flashlight in them a few times. Now that bothered Guillermo’s eyes. He flinched and quickly closed his eyes the first couple of times before he gradually became used to the sudden light appearing right in his face, although it didn’t stop the throbbing in his head from growing a tad worse. He was about to ask if Corvus was done yet when he heard the flashlight click off and the intrusive light disappeared from view.

“Well, your pupils are slow to dilate properly. And I would wager you have a headache, Guillermo? Particularly from where you hit your head?” Corvus asked, pocketing the tiny flashlight and receiving a nod from Guillermo. “That’s what I expected. You have a slight concussion but it’s nothing to be too terribly concerned about.”  
There was the softest intake of breath from either Lilith or Nandor and, since it was so quiet, it was hard for Guillermo to tell who it came from. Corvus clearly heard it too, judging from the quick side glance he gave the others. His gaze lingered on Nandor before returning his undivided attention to Guillermo. “It should clear up in a few days provided that you rest and have someone check on you from time to time whenever you sleep. Can your household manage that, Nandor?”

Seeing Nandor out of the corner of his eye, Guillermo almost wanted to laugh at the comical way he was bristling. Nandor, being the de facto head of the house, more than likely took some amount of offense to Corvus’ question. “Yes, yes. We are more than capable of that. He huffed out a snappy response, earning him a pointed look from Lilith that made him look away the moment their eyes met. 

Either Corvus didn’t notice their exchange or he knew something Guillermo didn’t as he ignored the glares Lilith was giving Nandor. “Now, let me check your temperature and then we can see about getting you some food.” 

Within seconds, Corvus had a thermometer in hand and Guillermo’s temperature had been read, a shrill beep announcing it to the whole room as Corvus looked at the tiny digital screen. “100℉ on the mark. That’s much better than before. Would you like to try some food, Guillermo?”

Guillermo could feel and hear his stomach growl loudly as Corvus stopped speaking. If Lilith was right, he had almost gone a day without eating and he was quickly beginning to feel hungry despite still feeling ill, not to mention his mouth felt drier than a desert. “Maybe just a little. I really don’t want to be running to the bathroom tonight.”

“Quite right,” Corvus agreed and looked back over his shoulder at Nandor, appearing to be pondering something before turning to Lilith. “Nandor obviously doesn’t want to leave Guillermo just yet.” Corvus’s words left Guillermo doing a double take at him and Nandor fluttering like an offended rooster. “Lilith dear, could you-”

“Way ahead of you,” Lilith gently cut him off and was already beginning to head for the door. “I’ll be back soon. Try and rest for the time being, Guillermo.” 

Guillermo nodded, feeling his cheeks flush a little in embarrassment at the almost mothering look Lilith was giving him as she left the room. A few seconds of that look and he knew he would hear a stern but good natured earful from Lilith if she found him out of bed when she came back. 

“So Guillermo, do you have any further questions for me?”

He looked away from the closed door as Nandor perched himself on the edge of the bed and back to Corvus. The new vampire seemed to be waiting for Guillermo to speak as he stood and moved to a chair sitting in the corner by the table, dragging it closer to the bed. He gracefully sat in the simple wooden chair and raised an eyebrow when Guillermo didn’t say anything, confirming that he was waiting for Guillermo to speak before he spoke any further. 

“These cards, they’re real?” Guillermo picked up the business cards and looked them over again. If he was lying, Corvus had gone out of his way to create cards for a fake business and on top of that, Guillermo wasn’t even sure it was possible to create a fake facebook page in such a short amount of time, one that appeared to go back for a number of years. 

“Have you never seen a vampire have their own business before?”

“No, I have,” Guillermo replied, thinking back to Simon the Devious and his former nightclub. Simon was only one example that he could think of that came close. Laszlo and his pornos didn’t really seem to fit the bill of owning your own business. That was more of a career. “I’ve just never seen a vampire own a place like this before.”

“You are not the first person who has told me that. Believe me. Werewolves are especially surprised to learn I own the building my livelihood is based out of.”

“Werewolves?” Now that he was surprised at. Most vampires seemed to have a deep hatred of werewolves, yet Corvus didn’t appear to feel the same way if he took them on as clients.

“Ja, werewolves,” Corvus replied with a small nod. “My best student is a werewolf. The card was not exaggerating about serving the supernatural community.” He chuckled softly at the perplexed frown on Guillermo’s face. “Perhaps I should explain myself? Nandor has already heard this, of course, but I can give you a quick runthrough of everything, Guillermo.”

“Uh, sure thing.” Maybe he could get a better read on Corvus this way. The vampire had been so collected and polite this whole time and, in all honesty, it really was hard for Guillermo to get a feel for if Corvus was telling the truth or not, cards and social media included.

Corvus settled into his chair, crossing his calf over his knee, and rested his clasped hands in his lap, looking at ease in a home that wasn’t his own. He definitely looked calmer than Guillermo felt and especially Nandor, who still sat on the other side of the bed, nervously and quietly tapping a finger against the comforter. 

“I suppose I should start with my shop. During the day, I have an apothecary of sorts. As the card states, it has flower arrangements and house plants along with homegrown herbs and teas. Think of a florist shop crossed with a greenhouse and tea shop. That’s what you would find during daylight hours and at night, that is when my clinic is open. I’ll see anyone who comes through the door for anything: injuries, medical procedures, colds and illnesses like yours.” He gestured to Guillermo with his hand and continued. “Between the two, I have a decent sized staff and a number of students. A few are still in school but most have since graduated. They come from all over the city and yes, my best student really is a werewolf. They all help me manage the apothecary and clinic from day to day or when I’m away on a housecall.”

“Like you are now?” Guillermo asked, receiving a nod from Corvus in response. “And you really are a doctor?”

“That I am,” Corvus reaffirmed for Guillermo. “I was a physician and a plague doctor during the 14th century. After I was turned, I spent some time...shall we say, roughing it in the Black Forest mountains before I returned back to being a physician. A decade or so before I relocated to New York, I attended the College de Sorbonne in France.” The surprise on Guillermo’s face must have been showing for Corvus to elaborate on attending a college. “A degree was something I wanted simply for the hell of it but it ended up being worth it. Some people have been more likely to trust me if I can show them a diploma. Is there anything else you would like to know, Guillermo?”

The question had already been rattling around in Guillermo’s head before Corvus asked for more questions. “How do you and Lilith know each other? She’s never mentioned you before.”

“Ah, that’s probably because neither of us try to attract too much attention from the vampiric community, mainly because of myself. I am not well liked by many and the Vampiric Council doesn’t entirely approve of what I do either, though they don’t disapprove either so long as I don’t do anything to harm the community. But to answer your question, I met Lilith in 1918. Her coven had been affected by the Spanish flu and I offered to help. She helped me set up the apothecary in return as a thank you. Some of the herbs you see in her own shop come from me. Anyways, we have stayed fast friends ever since.” 

Just then, Nandor and Corvus turned their heads in unison towards the door, hearing something that Guillermo couldn’t hear for another few seconds. Multiple sets of footsteps came down the hall and stopped in front of the door, followed by a knock. Lilith entered the room a moment later, carrying a tray, and walked it over to Guillermo, setting it down on the table. Guillermo could make out a glass of what looked like apple juice and a steaming bowl of soup. The smell of chicken and vegetables slowly wafted over to him. 

“Is that chicken soup?” He craned his neck to get a better look, ignoring the sight of Colin poking his head around the doorway and creeping into the room. 

Lilith picked up the bowl and brought it over to Guillermo, carefully handing it off to him. “It is. It’s nothing fancy, just a store bought rotisserie chicken and some vegetables. This works in a pinch but it’s nowhere close to what I usually make. There are hardly any herbs here so…” She threw a look in the direction of the doorway, where Nadja and Laszlo stood, and set the juice glass within Guillermo’s reach. Over by the door, Nadja was glaring so intensely at the back of Lilith’s head it was like she was trying to burn a hole through her with her eyes. 

“You bought all this?” Guillermo took one spoonful of soup into his mouth and nearly wanted to melt at the taste, then snatched up the glass of juice and drained half of it in a few gulps. He didn’t care if the soup was made with a pre-cooked chicken. It was the best comfort food he had eaten in days since the bunuelos his mom had made. 

“Of course I did. You’re sick. You needed something better than expired canned soup.” 

Lilith and Nadja exchanged a glare again and there was immediate tension in the air between the two. Seeing that, Corvus cleared his throat and turned in the chair as Guillermo ate. 

“Well then. Now that the doorway is sufficiently blocked, it is your turn next, Nandor. I let you get some clearly needed sleep until Guillermo improved and had his dinner but now it’s your turn. I know you’re injured. I can smell it on you. Please take off the gloves and show me your hands.”

Guillermo watched Nandor freeze and go as rigid as a board, staring straight ahead like a startled deer. The rest of the room all turned to look at Nandor, the same puzzled frowns on everyone’s faces. 

“You can smell it?” Laszlo asked from where he still stood at the entrance to the room. He looked between Nandor and Corvus. “Just what is that supposed to mean?”

Corvus addressed Guillermo first. “I’m sure you’re already aware of this, Guillermo, but you do know each vampire has their own ability or abilities they excel at, yes?” Guillermo nodded around a final mouthful of juice, then Corvus turned his attention back to Laszlo. 

“I can smell most chemical compounds and pick them out if they’re mixed in something - medicines and the like - or if they’re physically on a person. It’s not always exact but nine times out of ten, I’m close. And what I can smell on Nandor, what I’ve been smelling since you opened the front door, is blood and silver.”

Guillermo felt an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach and snapped his head back over to Nandor. Why would Nandor touch silver or even have any of it on him unless… He thought back to the fight in the alley, to the assassins, and his stomach dropped. He suddenly didn't feel as hungry anymore.

By now, Laszlo and Nadja had fully entered the room. Between them, Colin and Lilith, any path Nandor would have to the door was blocked and he could see it, going by the growing panicked grimace on his face as he turned around. All eyes were on him when he rose to his feet, only to trip and stumble as one leg wobbled once Nandor had both feet planted in place. Guillermo dropped his spoon back into the bowl and set it aside on the nightstand, his dinner the last thing on his mind now as he swore he could see Nandor favoring his right leg. There was no way he was seeing things. Nandor wasn’t placing his right foot flat on the floor, opting to bear his weight on the ball of his foot with his heel raised into the air while his left foot was completely flat. To top it off, Nandor had moved both hands behind his back, hands that were still wearing riding gloves, which was odd now that Guillermo thought about it. Since when did Nandor ever wear gloves indoors? 

“Nandor, ole chap, are you-” Laszlo began to ask, quickly being cut off as he took a small step towards Nandor, making Nandor take an immediate step back.

“Yes, I am fine!” Nandor snapped back and took another step away from everyone. “Nothing is wrong. Everything is o-ah-kay, alright?”

“Then uh, why are you walking like that, dude?” Colin pressed as he inched forward just as Laszlo did. 

“I am not walking like anything is wrong!” Nandor kept backing up for each step Colin and Laszlo took towards him, sounding and looking more like a cornered animal, his voice taking on a slight panicked tone. He lay his right foot flat on the floor and whined out through gritted teeth, “See? My leg is normal and fine!”

“If you were truly fine, Nandor, then you would have no problem showing us your hands.” Corvus was on his feet now and slowly stepping around the bed until he came to stand a few feet in front of Nandor. 

“I- you…” Nandor glanced around the room, probably to check to see if someone would step in and save him from Corvus but no one said anything. His gaze stopped on Guillermo and he broke into a childish-like whine at the deeply concerned look Guillermo was giving him. “Stop looking at me like that, Guillermo! Everything is fine! Please go back to your chickey soup.”

Corvus heaved out a long exasperated sigh. “Nandor, I’ve been in this profession long enough to tell when someone is hiding something. You are not putting all your weight on both feet. You are wearing riding gloves, for horseback riding, indoors during the winter in the middle of Staten Island. There are no horses around for miles. You can keep feigning your injuries all you like but I really can smell the silver on you. Those wounds aren’t healing as quickly as they normally would for you, am I correct?”

Nandor’s mouth gaped open, stuttering and failing to say anything to defend himself. When Nandor couldn’t come up with anything, Corvus pressed on. “That will continue to happen until those wounds, whatever they may be, are properly and thoroughly flushed out. Please just show me your hands.”

Guillermo watched on as Nandor stuttered again and his panicked eyes darted around the room, lingering on the open door for far longer than Guillermo was comfortable with. Fearing that Nandor was about to try and bat out of the room, he spoke up. Corvus was still a complete stranger but as far as Guillermo could tell, he hadn’t said or done anything to raise suspicion. It had been quite the opposite up until now and if Lilith had known him for just over a century, then maybe he could be trustworthy after all. 

“Nandor, if you’re hurt, please…” 

That was all it took. Nandor’s eyes flicked back to Guillermo before he gave in, grumbling under his breath and gingerly slipping off the riding gloves to toss them onto the couch. White bandages were haphazardly wrapped around both hands and large red specks decorated the palm area. Nandor began to unfurl the bandages and as he went, Guillermo had a sinking feeling that he already knew what they would all see. His thoughts went back to the alley, to when Nandor had been standing over him, wrestling the assassin away from him with his bare hands. He had been screaming in pain from whatever he had been clinging to with an iron grip, that gleaming metal object that looked more and more like a blade in Guillermo’s hazy memory of that moment. And it was in that moment, as the first bandage fell away to reveal torn flesh, Guillermo knew what Nandor had grabbed. He had wrapped his hands around a silver dagger and his blood had dripped down onto Guillermo’s face. Nandor had let a silver fucking blade slice his hands open to keep Guillermo from getting stabbed. He had saved his life, carried him home with an injured leg and kept watch over him, sitting there in pain all while saying nothing.

Guillermo felt sick and angry.

There was a collective harsh intake of breath from nearly everyone at the sight of Nandor’s torn palms. The wounds were deep, jagged around the edges and, _fuck_ , they were still oozing blood. Blisters were scattered about from where his hands had been burned by the silver and the skin shone an angry red color. Corvus was right. The torn flesh hadn’t healed in the slightest. 

Corvus took one of Nandor’s hands in his own and examined it. Guillermo felt his appetite disappear, anger and frustration filling him as he watched. “You grabbed a dagger, didn’t you? The one that assassin was trying to stab me with? Nandor, why didn’t you say anything to them?!” He jerked a finger at their housemates.

“Hang on a minute, you grabbed a fucking silver dagger with your bare hands? And you weren’t going to tell us?” Laszlo demanded to know with a near equally disturbed expression on his face as Guillermo.

“You stubborn mule, Nandor! Why would you do that?”

Corvus left Nandor’s side to move to the table, kneeling down to dig around in his bags, leaving Nandor to look between Guillermo, Laszlo and Nadja, flustered and unsure who to answer first until Laszlo barked out a “Well?! Answer my good lady wife!” 

“The assassin knocked Guillermo to the ground and he was on top of him with a dagger. He was going to stab him. What did you expect me to do, Nadja?”

“Not grab a silver blade and weaken yourself for a start! What if the assassin had stabbed you? What would you have done then?” Nadja fired back at him. “Is that why you are being funny with your leg?”

“Er…” He hesitated just long enough to confirm Nadja’s theory, leaving her and Laszlo to throw repeated questions his way, chastising him to the point where Colin’s eyes shone ever so softly with a faintly visible blue. 

Even Colin chimed in with “Not cool, Nandor. This was so not cool. First Guillermo and now you?”

Nandor hissed in blatant annoyance at being cornered by his housemates. “Enough of this! The important thing is I stopped the assassin from stabbing Guillermo. I do not see what all this fussing is about. I am _fine_!”

“Except you're not fine!” Guillermo had enough. He was fuming over Nandor believing things were fine, that he was fine, and the throbbing pain from his concussion was mounting, giving him the onset of a headache. He knew he sounded as irate as he looked if Nandor winced when he looked at him “Look at your hands! They’re burned and they’re still bleeding! What about your leg? Is it like your hands?”

Guillermo’s outburst had stunned Nandor into a quiet stupor, taking most of the fight out of him as he quietly answered Guillermo. “It’s not so different from the other spots.” 

“What other spots? How...just how many times did they hit you?” His dinner sat forgotten beside him on the nightstand but he didn’t care. He was near nauseous. The assassins had done far more than slice Nandor’s hands open. He didn’t have to see the rest of his injuries to know. Nandor’s face and the way he was acting said it all, clear as day. It terrified Guillermo to guess how narrowly Nandor had escaped after he had watched him go down with his heart in his throat. And Nandor had been content with sitting around, untreated, infected silver injuries plaguing him until someone called him out on it. 

Guillermo felt the pinpricks of tears at the corner of his eyes and he swallowed thickly, rapidly blinking to squash the tears down. “Dammit Nandor, what the fuck were you thinking? You grabbed a silver dagger!”

Nandor had fully fallen silent from the outburst, only able to answer Guillermo with a quiet mumble. “They were going to kill you.”

“Guillermo is right, though. You should have said something.” Lilith spoke gently in sharp contrast to the harsh yelling and scolding that had come from everyone else. “Maybe let Corvus look at them? The bathroom might be the easiest place to-”

“Oh, don’t tell Nandor what to do in our own house, Lilith! You do not live here!” Nadja snarled at Lilith with all the contempt in the world behind her voice.

Lilith gave Nadja an incredulous look. “Excuse me? Nandor was going to keep on hiding his injuries from you but you’re telling _me_ off?” Her question earned her a scathing hiss from Nadja. “Oh that’s real rich, Nadja.”

“Nadja, Lilith, that is quite enough.” Corvus had a little bottle in hand and smoothly but sternly shut the budding argument down, standing between the two of them not unlike a teacher separating two bickering children. “What’s done is done. There is no use arguing about it now like children.”

Another hiss was building up in Nadja’s throat, this time directed at Corvus, but Laszlo redirected her attention away from him with a gentle touch on her forearm. “He makes a valid point, my darling. Why don’t we let the good doctor do his work? We will just be in his way.”

It took a couple more rounds of convincing - and another hiss or two - until Nadja abandoned her spat with Lilith and left with Laszlo closely following behind her, but not before he muttered a near inaudible apology to Lilith. They were followed by Corvus and Nandor, the two heading for the bathroom so Corvus could wash out the wounds with saline solution, as he had informed Nandor before they left. Nandor had muttered out one more soft "I'm fine" to Guillermo as he limped from the room, not even bothering to hide his limp anymore and leaving Guillermo more worried than he had been before. As they had left, Guillermo could vaguely hear Nandor telling Corvus something along the lines of “but I will have my eye on you” as the door quietly shut behind them, no doubt referring to whatever it was Corvus needed to do to wash Nandor’s wounds out. 

Colin was just about to follow suit and leave Guillermo alone with Lilith when he stopped at the door, turning around and pulling out his phone. 

“By the way Guillermo, I wanted to pick your brain about a fridge, washer and dryer. How fancy do you want to get with these because I think he could get some good ones for a steal of a deal.”

“I- you want to do what now?”

“Oh Nandor didn’t tell you? Lilith tore us all a new one last night when she found the dead fridge and no washer or dryer. So we’re getting them but I figured you should get first dibs.”

“You did?” Guillermo looked to Lilith in surprise, feeling a little touched she had done that on his behalf. It had always been something he had been nervous to approach with Nandor right up until the whole mess with Celeste. 

“I might have called them out for how they were treating you. We can talk about it later,” Lilith reassured Guillermo when he gave her a very curious look.

“It was quite the show. Let me tell you,” Colin interjected again with a shit eating grin on his face. “You’re a damn spitfire, Lilith. Oh, and one more thing before I go. Any requests for the kitchen, Guillermo?”

“Can this not wait until another day, Colin?” Lilith said, sinking into the chair that Corvus had previously been occupying. “I’m not trying to be rude here. I don’t really know you that well but Guillermo probably should rest after all the shouting and Nadja being pissed at me as usual.” 

“Righty roo, Lilith. I’ll be out of your hair in a jiffy. Just...any requests, Guillermo?” 

Lilith groaned in annoyance at Colin’s persistence and tiredly rubbed her temples. Guillermo couldn’t help but chuckle softly. If someone wasn’t used to Colin’s overall personality, he knew just how annoying and tiring the peppy questions could get. Even so, he knew what he wanted for the kitchen. It had been on his to buy list for years now. 

“A coffee maker, Colin.”

“Oh shame you’re not asking for a teapot. You could use it to spill the tea for whenever Lilith tells us why she and Nadja hate each other so much. Get it? Because it’s a teapot.”

“Colin, go.” Guillermo made a shooing motion at Colin’s general direction. “Go check on Nandor or something. Please.”

The energy vampire left without any further terrible jokes, laughing to himself as he walked off down the hall, no doubt having fed just then on the awkward situation he made from his dumb joke. 

From beside him, Lilith yawned and gestured to the nearly forgotten bowl of soup, indicating that he should finish his food. Guillermo picked up his lukewarm soup and began to eat again. His appetite was still there even with all the drama surrounding Nandor. 

“Is he always like that?” she asked. “Colin, I mean.”

He paused around a spoonful of chicken, noodles and potato chunks before answering. “Not always.” He amended his statement when Lilith rolled her eyes at the closed door, drawing out another chuckle from Guillermo. “Okay, so he’s pretty much like that most of the time but….he grows on you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Next Chapter: Nearly two weeks later. Guillermo receives a phone call with ominous news.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guillermo's dinner is interrupted by a phone call from Lilith bearing bad news. Tensions run high in the household and elsewhere in the city, the Vampiric Council is drawing up their next plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to UpstartCrow42 and Freydient for helping me plan and beta this chapter. And a big thanks to everyone on the Nandermo discord who I've run ideas by. You're so amazing and talented!

It had been nearly two weeks since Corvus and Lilith had been at the house and - for the most part - Guillermo felt remarkably better. He wasn’t quite back to feeling like his regular self just yet. He felt tired at times and the stitches in his arm had long since started to irritate him. Aside from those things, he had been feeling well enough to get back into a normal routine, as normal as he could given the circumstances he and his vampires found themselves in. 

Since the attack in the alley, things had been surprisingly calm. The house had not been attacked at all nor had any of them seen vampires lurking outside the property line. Each day had passed in relative peace with the only noticeable event being the bizarre looking, darkly colored owl that seemed to have taken up residence in the area. One quick internet search had told Guillermo the bird was likely a barn owl, something that was rare but fairly unheard of in this part of the state. 

Still, Guillermo didn’t trust this. Whether it was the strange black owl or the complete absence of the Vampiric Council. Some corner in the back of his mind was gnawing at him, telling him that something was awry. Things were too quiet, too peaceful. It felt too good to be true, like they were in the eye of a storm, just waiting for the worst of the hail to arrive. 

The most uncomfortable part to Guillermo was the first time Nandor and Laszlo had left the house to hunt in weeks, after Nandor’s leg had healed up enough to let him walk without pain. The agreed upon hunting plan had been for Laszlo and Nandor to go out as a pair for a couple of hours rather than spend a whole evening hunting out in the open where any of the vampires could be vulnerable to an attack. While Nandor played the role of a bodyguard, Laszlo would hypnotise people to come to the house and stagger them out over the course of a week. The victims would be partially drained, their blood stored away in the fridge or consumed that night, before Laszlo would wipe their minds and send them on their way. No one was killed. Dead victims only created corpses that would have to be disposed of, forcing any of them to go outdoors where an assassin could throw a blade from outside the yard. 

The plan was risky and neither Guillermo nor Nadja were fond of it. It had been the only thing they had agreed on in the past week, but even Nadja had admitted going out for a couple of hours was safer than spending an entire night hunting. Yet no matter how often Guillermo reminded himself of this, here he was, finding himself worrying that they wouldn’t return. 

Nandor and Laszlo were only out on their second run. Nothing had happened so far. Laszlo and Nandor had not seen any other vampires during their first outing just days ago and that was part of the problem for Guillermo. At the start, things were calm and it lasted for maybe two weeks. Then the strange owl had arrived and now this, not a single vampire out and about in this city. It just didn’t sit well with him, so much so that he had purchased a set of security cameras for the house and with Colin’s help, much to Guillermo’s surprise. The energy vampire hadn’t said anything but when Colin helped him find the right cameras without his usual antics, Guillermo had a small suspicion that he wasn’t alone in the way he felt. 

Until Nandor and Laszlo returned, Guillermo had to be content with lounging about in the fancy room, drawing in his sketchbook to occupy the time and his mind while his dinner cooked away in the woodstove. Colin was off in the basement, likely bothering people online, and Nadja had disappeared into the music room shortly after her husband had left with Nandor. Guillermo could faintly hear soft music from the record player float down the stairs, just barely audible from his spot on the couch. He sat tucked into the corner on one side with his sketchbook resting in his lap and a cup of coffee sitting on the side table, courtesy of his new Keurig. 

True to Nandor’s word, the house finally had working, modern appliances. The situation had been sorted out within a few days of their alley incident. Nandor had called a house meeting about it in the blue room - now Guillermo’s bedroom - and a detailed list of everything the house needed had been drafted, covering every topic from things Guillermo needed to fortifying the house. Before the meeting had finished, Nandor had laid out a new rule in the house: everyone would pitch in to help Guillermo with the day to day chores. There had been the start of an uproar from Laszlo and Nadja, but Nandor had squashed it before it really went anywhere, leaving no room for an argument. If Guillermo was always busy maintaining the house, how was he supposed to help them keep an eye out for more assassins unless they pulled their share of the weight. Needless to say, Nandor’s little speech had left Guillermo stunned, especially after Lilith had told him about the argument between herself and Nadja. She had all but screamed at them when he had been unconscious and while that likely threw the vampires for a bit, he never expected them to actually follow up on the ultimatum Lilith had given them: shape up or else she would take him in. Her offer had touched him and obviously rattled some cages, judging by how easily Nandor gave in to Guillermo’s requests. He hadn’t received a full apology yet. He honestly had never expected that to happen overnight but this was progress. After eleven years of stagnation with nothing changing, baby steps had to happen first.

Guillermo took a sip of his coffee, about to finish up the rough sketch he was working on, when the front door burst open. Closing his sketchbook and setting it aside, he could hear Laszlo stomping into the house.

“And I’m telling you, Nandor. Something is afoot here.” The front door closed and Laszlo’s voice grew closer until he and Nandor stopped just outside the fancy room, close enough for Guillermo to see their shadows being cast on the floor. “You don’t think it’s odd? We went out on our second hunt and didn’t see a single vampire. Not another soul and you do not find that odd?”

There was a brief moment of hesitation from Nandor before he responded, sounding unsure of what he was saying. “I will admit, Laszlo, it is a little odd but that does not mean something is wrong.”

“You’re speaking the bullshit, Nandor. Something feels off and I know you felt it tonight out there, same as I did.”

Guillermo sighed to himself. Of course things couldn’t stay quiet forever. Why had he ever expected them to? He felt a little more reassured that the others were beginning to feel unsettled by just how quiet things had been but it wasn’t by much. He sighed again and set his coffee down, calling out to them. “Is everything okay?”

Footsteps approached the fancy room and the curtains were pushed aside, Laszlo striding in with Nandor hot on his heels. Laszlo huffed and began to pace in front of the entryway. "Everything is not bloody okay. How much did you hear, Gizmo?"

“I heard enough. You really didn’t see anyone else?”

Laszlo shook his head as he kept pacing. “No one. We’ll have enough for the coming week or two but…” 

“You’re creeped out,” Guillermo finished for him when he said nothing further. 

At his words, Laszlo stopped pacing and turned to face Guillermo, regarding him with a look that wasn’t entirely readable. It wasn’t the usual exasperated or disapproving looks Laszlo always gave him but rather one with a hint of trepidation behind it. “That is one way of phrasing it.”

“Yeah, I’ve been feeling it too,” Guillermo agreed, earning him a raised eyebrow from Laszlo. “What I mean is I’m saying I get it. I get why you feel creeped out. The creepy owl that’s been hanging around is one thing but not seeing any vampires in public? That’s not normal.”

He had Laszlo’s undivided attention now. “What do you mean the owl is back? When did you last see it?”

“Last night. It was staring me down when I took out the trash. It keeps hanging out in Shaun’s yard.

Guillermo watched Laszlo’s eyes darken and heard him mutter a soft “Shit” under his breath. For as often as they openly disagreed with one another, it felt oddly comforting to know they were at least in agreement on this. 

Laszlo resumed pacing and confirmed Guillermo’s thoughts. “I’m telling you. Nothing good will come from that owl. It has to go.” 

“What are you going to do? Shoot the poor owl, Laszlo?” Nandor asked, not all looking pleased at the idea of Laszlo killing the beyond spooky owl.

“Now that you mention it, it may be time to dust off the old hunting bow of mine. Excuse me, Nandor old chap.” Laszlo turned on his heel and headed out of the fancy room, Nandor calling after him in a deeply offended tone.

“Don’t shoot the poor Mr. Owl! Laszlo!”

Nandor’s words fell on deaf ears and Laszlo left without another word. Guillermo picked up his sketchbook again and watched Nandor out of the corner of his eye. He stood there for a moment, looking after the spot where Laszlo had just been standing. Letting out a soft huff, Nandor reached up to unclasp his cape and it slid from his shoulders. He turned and gently deposited the cape onto a chair that was shoved into a corner before dragging out the tall armchair from behind his desk and settling himself in it, pulling a book and a stack of parchment out. 

They each worked on their own and sat in silence, albeit it wasn’t an uncomfortable one. It was rather like the numerous times he had been on a call with Jeremy and neither of them had felt like talking much. They had been content to do their own thing while simply enjoying each other’s company, and it was a lot like this current moment with Nandor. The fireplace merrily crackled away, casting a comforting warmth and orange glow about the room. Guillermo could hear the distant, gentle sound of the grandfather clock coming from the library. The record player could still be heard faintly but it was muffled now. It was a quiet and peaceful scene, one that Guillermo would happily soak up while it lasted. Nandor was flipping through his book and jotting the occasional note down, periodically glancing up at Guillermo when he wasn’t looking his way while muttering so softly to himself that Guillermo could not make out what he was saying. In return, Guillermo also snuck glances at Nandor when he wasn’t looking, noting that Nandor still looked just as tired as he had during their brief stay in the hotel. Clearly, he wasn’t sleeping that well.

Guillermo fretted over the thought, going over the same spot in his sketch a few times and working himself up to ask Nandor if he was sleeping alright, if his hands were alright. Things had been quiet between them, especially after Guillermo had gently confronted Nandor over not really being his familiar anymore. With everything that had happened over the last few weeks, their lives weren’t the same. Guillermo didn’t feel the same and calling himself a familiar didn’t seem right anymore. He had no clue what the future held in store for any of them but by some miracle, he and Nandor were on a first name basis now. Guillermo could tell Nandor felt awkward about it from the number of times he had slipped up over Guillermo calling him by his name instead of Master. At least he was making an effort, unlike Laszlo who still called him Gizmo no matter what he told him. 

He was about to ask Nandor if he was alright when the vampire paused in his writing and looked up from his work, scrunching up his nose and sniffing the air. “What is that burning smell?”

Guillermo stopped and sniffed the air as well. “I don’t smell anything.”

“How do you not smell it?” Nandor slowly stood from his chair and sniffed again. “What _is_ that?”

And suddenly, Guillermo could smell it, the faint hint of something burning with an underlying scent of marinara sauce. “Shit! My lasagna!” 

“Your...lass-aga?”

Guillermo didn’t pay any attention to Nandor. He jumped up from his seat, abandoning his coffee and sketchbook, and raced for the kitchen. He skidded to a stop in front of the wood burning stove and wrenched the oven door open. Smoke billowed out of it, straight into his face, and he coughed as he quickly pulled his definitely ruined dinner out of the oven, tossing it straight into the sink. 

This was the only problem with the wood stove. He wasn’t used to it. The timing was a bit hard to judge at times and so his food was a little burnt more often than not. His bread looked salvageable but the lasagna was a hard, blackened brick.

“Shit. Great, that’s just great. Now what?” Guillermo quietly muttered to himself and looked around the countertop. There was still some leftover sauce and cheese sitting out. If he took the cheese and covered slices of bread with it, maybe he could whip up makeshift breadsticks to go along with one of the frozen pizzas Lilith had bought for him. Within a few minutes, he had it all ready to go. The pizza was in the oven and the cheesy breadsticks were going to finish up in the microwave.

Guillermo turned away to crack open the window to let the smoke air itself out when he noticed Nandor had come into the kitchen at some point while he had been dealing with his disastrous lasagna. He could see his mug of coffee sitting on the counter. Nandor must have brought it with him but Nandor wasn’t paying Guillermo any mind. Instead, he was slowly flipping through the open, tattered book that lay on the kitchen table. 

“What is this?” he asked Guillermo, not looking up while still flipping through the book. 

“It’s a recipe book. My mom made it for me when I turned 18.” Guillermo elaborated when Nandor looked up from the book, his eyes full of unspoken questions. “It’s sort of a tradition in my family. Everyone gets a handwritten recipe book on their eighteenth birthday. It’s full of family recipes or anything that’s useful to have when you move away from home.” 

“This is in your mother’s hand?” At Guillermo’s nod, Nandor frowned in confusion. “And you have always had this here?” Another nod from Guillermo. “Why have I not seen this before?”

Guillermo shrugged, not entirely sure what to say that wouldn’t lead to another awkward situation between them, and picked up his mug. “I guess I never really had the time to cook, not like I am now. Between you, Nadja and Laszlo, the three of you kept me so busy. I didn’t have a lot of spare time to cook. Some of those recipes can take a while and, well...it was easier to buy frozen stuff or get delivery.” At Nandor’s crestfallen expression, he hurriedly added “But now you guys are pitching in a little so I have more time now.”

His tacked on attempt to not make his food situation sound so bad - even though it had been less than ideal for years - didn’t hit the mark. Nandor’s frown deepened and he stuttered out a low, “oh,” looking back down at the book. Whether it was in embarrassment or to avoid looking him in the eyes, Guillermo couldn’t say. He let Nandor look through his book while he sipped on the last of his coffee, working up the courage again to ask how he was doing. He drained his mug and set it on the counter, taking in a deep breath and going for it. 

“So, uh….how have your hands been feeling? It’s been a few days since I’ve seen them.”

To his surprise, Nandor slipped off the bandages he was still wearing and held up one hand without a word, holding out his hand with the palm facing Guillermo for him to see. The wound was nearly healed, not looking nearly as ugly and painful as it had a few days ago. The skin had healed over, showing a light colored mark where the knife had buried itself into Nandor’s palms. 

Nandor lowered his arm and slipped the gauze back around his hand. “See, Guillermo? I am more than fine. I do not know why you ask every other day.”

“I was just checking, since we kind of almost got killed in that alley.”

“No, you were almost killed, Guillermo.” Nandor pointed at him to further emphasize his point. Some indescribable emotion flitted across Nandor’s eyes but it was gone before Guillermo could even begin to pinpoint what it was.

He couldn’t help himself as he fired back, more bite behind his tone than he had intended. “Yeah, only because I was sick. I took on the theatre and I ended up being alright.”

“You were lucky before.” The mystery emotion was back in Nandor’s eyes. He met Guillermo’s for a moment before looking away and idly flipping a page in the recipe book. 

“What...what do you mean?” Guillermo felt himself frown as he felt his heart skip a beat. Surely there was no way Nandor knew about his ancestry. He had snuck his test results out with the trash the first day he felt well enough to walk around. No one had noticed it, being so early in the morning that everyone should have been asleep, but now Guillermo feared one of the vampires had seen him and had gone through the trash, finding his papers. 

“It is just-” Nandor stalled, fumbling over his words before finding the appropriate ones. “Would you like to learn fighting and battle techniques? From me?”

“I’m sorry? I thought I heard that wrong. Did you mean-”

Nandor gently confirmed what Guillermo thought he had heard and looked back at him, flipping the book closed. “No, you did hear me right. Would you like to learn?”

Guillermo was at a loss for words. “You’ve never offered to show me anything like that.”

“I’ve shown you things!” Nandor almost sounded offended. 

“Yeah, how to keep your swords and knives clean, how to put on your armor. Stuff like that, but you’ve never shown me how to actually use any of it, not in eleven years. So what changed? Why now?”

Nandor pulled out a chair at the table and slowly sank into it, not speaking again for a solid minute or two. Guillermo didn’t push his questions again. Just like the countless others times he had, he knew Nandor would clam up and give up on elaborating at all if he asked again. Nandor would speak when he was ready, and sure enough he did, as he kept his hands busy with a little ceramic salt shaker, slowly passing it back and forth between his hands. 

“You show promise, Guillermo. Am I correct in guessing you have never been taught before?”

“Yeah. Everything has been trial and error so far. I guess that makes me self-taught.” It wasn’t a total lie. 

“Then you have a gift. I have seen many gifted soldiers, warriors, whatever you want to call them, in my time. But you? You have more of a natural born gift than most of them ever did.”

“I don’t know about this being a gift. It feels more like a curse. It’s brought us nothing but problems.” He didn’t want to tell Nandor how he really felt, that he couldn’t silence the doubt in his mind over his heritage. If only Nandor knew the truth behind his abilities, he might not be so keen to teach him if that really was what he was offering him. “I’m really not that gifted, Nandor.”

Nandor gave him a peculiar look. Maybe it was at his refusal to accept the compliment Nandor was trying to give him, or maybe it was because he called his so-called gift a curse.  
“But you are, Guillermo. You need more than just an innate ability if you want to survive and thrive in battle. You need training. It would help with a number of things: spotting good times to strike, an enemy’s weaknesses, not being taken by surprise. Things like that. It would lower the things like injuries.”

“Are you...are you actually offering to teach me?”

Nandor nodded, giving him a small ghost of a smile. “Yes and not just you. I’ll admit it is something I’ve been considering for the whole house. It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea, wouldn’t you agree?” 

Guillermo paused at Nandor’s question. He had a point when it came to the others and, as for himself, he honestly didn’t know how to pinpoint someone’s weaknesses while they were coming at you with deadly intent. “You really think things will get to that point?”

“Maybe not but...well, I have a feeling it might. Then again, it might not.” Nandor shrugged in what seemed to be an attempt at playing off the gravity of the past few weeks, but his eyes betrayed him. They were expectantly looking at Guillermo, waiting for an answer, and his hands were still idly fiddling with the salt shaker. Nandor looked anxious and tired all at the same time. His eyes still had dark circles around them, just as they had back at the hotel and from the CVS night. The only difference was they were slowly growing more noticeable. Was this the reason Nandor seemed so tired all the time? Was he worried something was going to happen to them? That things were about to go downhill in a hurry? Was he up most nights fretting and making plans at his desk? 

The oven timer went off, pulling Guillermo from his thoughts and making Nandor jump about a mile high in his seat. His hand fell down to the sword that had been at his side ever since they had been attacked. Not a single day had gone by where Guillermo hadn’t seen him without it on his hip, and he even wondered if Nandor went to sleep with it, if he was sleeping at all. His former master was on edge but maybe agreeing to some combat training could help put his nerves at ease.

“You’re right. Nothing might happen but I guess it doesn’t hurt to be prepared. I’ll train with you.” 

“Great!” Nandor’s face broke out into a grin, the tips of his fangs just barely poking out from beneath his lip. It was the first real smile Guillermo had seen from him since his fever had disappeared. 

Silence hung between them as Nandor watched Guillermo pull his dinner out of the oven and plate it up, but this time the quiet didn’t feel as awkward. There was still this anxiety ridden air hanging about Nandor, but it was an issue Guillermo could tackle another day. Right now his cheesy bread and pizza were calling his name. He had barely begun to eat when the sound of his ringtone filled up the whole kitchen, the sudden noise once again causing Nandor to flinch. The screen lit up with Lilith’s caller ID.

“What is it doing?” Nandor was glaring at the phone as if it were going to reach out and bite him. “Why is your cellular telephone making that noise?”

“Lilith is calling me. We just saw her a few days ago. Why is she calling so late?” Guillermo dropped a slice of pizza down to his plate and plucked his phone up, a frown settling onto his face as he swiped to answer the call. “Hello?”

 _“Guillermo! I was worried you wouldn’t pick up.”_ Lilith’s voice came through the speaker, sounding just a touch frazzled. _“Is there anyone else there with you? This is urgent.”_

“Yeah, Nandor is here with me.” At this, Nandor’s eyes narrowed slightly and he frowned. He was about to speak but Guillermo held him off with one raised finger. “Why do you ask?” 

_“Put me on speaker. He needs to hear this too.”_ Her voice was slightly hitched as she spoke and Guillermo could hear the tiredness in her tone.

“Lilith, is everything okay? You sound...I don’t know, upset?”

There was a moment of hesitation, then Lilith spoke again but in a hushed voice this time, as if she were trying to keep her voice down on purpose. _“No. No, things are not alright. Vampires are going missing again but it’s more than that this time. Other people are missing too.”_ Lilith’s voice hitched again, distress laced behind every word. _“Can you please put your phone on speaker?”_

Guillermo lost his appetite in an instant. Vampires were disappearing? He remembered back to a few months ago, when Nandor had mentioned missing vampires in passing the night the Mosquitos had broken into the Hustler household, but at the time he honestly hadn’t thought much of it. In all honesty, Guillermo had attributed it to potential rumors about the council guards he had been fending off all summer, not that he ever actually heard any such rumors. He had assumed that had been it, but if this was worrying Lilith enough to call and warn them, then maybe there was something else going on. 

How he felt must have shown on his face. Nandor’s frown had deepened and he was regarding Guillermo with a - dare he say it - fearful look in his eyes. Could he hear what Lilith was saying despite the phone not being on speaker? It was hard for Guillermo to tell. Regardless, he set his phone down on the table and tapped the speaker button. 

“Okay, we can both hear you now.”

_“Alright, so here’s the first thing. Guillermo, when you see Corvus tomorrow, he’s going to have something special for you, a radio. It’s able to pick up a rather specific frequency the paranormal community uses to pass news around.”_

“What, like a radio show?” Guillermo asked.

_“A bit like one, yes. It’s run by a ghoul. Corvus knows him, actually. His name is Mandus. The show is mostly a way to pass around news and information, what’s happening in each community as a whole.”_

“Why have I not heard of this before?” Nandor’s puzzled face normally would have cracked a smile from Guillermo if Lilith hadn’t just dropped the bombshell news of vampires disappearing on him. 

_“Well your community tends to keep to itself, Nandor, so I’m not surprised. Correct me if I’m wrong, but vampires seem to be isolationists at best. A lot of you don’t interact with the other communities unless you have to.”_

“That isn’t entirely true!” Nandor objected, softly huffing at the phone as if Lilith were sitting in its place.

_“Name the last time you spoke with the other communities not because you had to but because you wanted to.”_

Nandor fumbled over his words before letting out a clear huff, one that Lilith could likely hear. “Alright, so you have a point. But what does this have to do with the disappearances again?”

 _“Oh, so you did hear that,”_ Lilith commented although she didn’t sound at all surprised Nandor had heard her after all. _“Apparently Mandus has a few informants all over the city. They’re either your average vampire or they’re in with the council, maybe a few familiars too. No one really knows for sure. They let him know about the disappearances. Vampires, their familiars, werewolves, a few wizards, people are turning up missing all over the city and that’s not all. Remember when Corvus said he doesn’t see many vampires as clients? That’s normally true but now it’s gone from a handful over the course of a year to twice that number in one month. And a few didn’t survive.”_

“What?!” Guillermo and Nandor gasped out at the same time. Nandor looked exactly as Guillermo felt, alarmed and unsure about what this all meant. 

_“You heard me right. The three that died all had silver bullet wounds straight to the heart.”_ The distressed waver was back in Lilith’s voice. _“And there’s more.”_

“Let’s hear it, Lilith.” Guillermo sighed and nervously tapped a finger against the table. He wasn’t really feeling up to hearing more bad news. They had already received enough of it in the last couple of weeks but it wasn’t like they could ignore it. Sooner or later they would have to find out.

_“I have no idea if this is true but rumor has it a few of the Vampiric Council have vanished as well.”_

“Are you sure? Do you know who?” Nandor asked. He was back to fiddling with something in his hands except now he had balled up a napkin and held it in one hand. 

_“I’m sorry. I don’t. All I know is two, maybe three, members are missing.”_

“That might explain why we didn’t see any vampires during our hunt tonight,” Nandor mused, meeting Guillermo’s eyes with a more than uncertain look. “They must all be in hiding if the disappearances are happening again.”

 _“That lines up with what we’ve been seeing over here too.”_ Lilith let out a shaky sigh and the sound of a mug clinking against a table came over the speaker. She still sounded slightly on edge. _“Look, all I’m saying is be careful tomorrow. The radio will help keep you in on the news but besides that...”_

“We’ll be careful, Lilith,” Guillermo reassured her even though he felt far less confident than he forced his voice to sound. “And you be careful too.” 

They said their goodbyes to Lilith and no sooner had Guillermo hung up, Nandor was on his feet, nearly running out of the kitchen as he screamed for the rest of the household. Guillermo quickly followed behind him, listening to Nandor’s booming voice echo through the halls. 

“House meeting! House meeting in the fancy room right now!” He came to a halt in the foyer and ushered Guillermo towards the fancy room, still shouting so loud Guillermo was almost worried Sean and the other neighbors might hear him. “Helloooo? There is a very important meeting in the fancy-”

“Calm down, you knob lord!” Laszlo shouted back at Nandor from upstairs, appearing on the upper landing a moment later with Nadja at his side. “We heard you the first time. Quit screaming!” 

“Fine but Laszlo, the fancy room-” 

“Jeepers creepers, what is going on up there?” At that moment, Colin appeared at the far end of the hallway they had just come from, no doubt coming upstairs from whatever it was he spent his time doing in the basement. “Did a herd of wildebeest just stampede down the hall? I could hear Nandor screeching like a pterodactyl from my room.”

“I don’t know what a pharaoh-dactyl is but please, if you could all come into the fancy room then we can have the meeting about-”

“Didn’t we just have a house meeting?” Colin interjected, causing Nandor to look frustrated that no one was following him into the fancy room.

“No, you’re thinking of the one we had last week. About the hunting schedule,” Nadja answered Colin, getting a drawn out “oh” from him in response.

“Great. Now that we have that answered, can we all please just-” Nandor was once again interrupted by the rest of the household, save for Guillermo who was watching on with a look of pity for Nandor. This sort of thing happened at every other house meeting or so, everyone having a back and forth dialogue about whatever came to mind while Nandor could barely get a word in.

“So uh, what’s this meeting about?”

“Please, Colin! Shush-”

“I haven’t the foggiest notion, Colin Robinson.”

“Laszlo, if you would just let me finish-” Nandor let out a loud huff in pure frustration and threw his arms up into the air at being interrupted for the - what was it - the fourth time. Or was it the fifth?

“Well if it isn’t anything super duper important, I’m gonna head back downstairs. I was getting the best drain from this PTA mom and-” 

The longer this went on for, the more deflated and frustrated Nandor’s demeanor grew. Colin’s rambling about some mom and her PTA bake sale feud with another parent seemed to seal the deal. Nandor sighed softly and turned to walk past Guillermo into the fancy room. Guillermo couldn’t take listening to this banter anymore, both for his own sanity and for Nandor’s sake. 

He took a deep breath and shouted as loud as he needed to drown out Colin. “Guys, please shut up! Vampires are disappearing again!” With that, Guillermo turned on his heel and left them behind to be greeted by the astonished look on Nandor’s face. It quickly left as the other vampires swiftly burst into the room. The curtain was loudly jostled as Nadja roughly shoved it to the side.

“Guillermo, what did you just say?!” Nadja demanded to know, looking every bit as angry as she sounded. Whether it was at the news or how he delivered it, Guillermo couldn’t say for sure. 

“You heard what I said, Nadja. Vampires are going missing again like they were a few months back. 

“How the hell do you know that, Gizmo? You haven’t left this house in weeks.”

Guillermo turned to Nandor, searching for his reaction and if he would take the lead as he always did during every house meeting. They locked eyes and Nandor gave him a terse nod, indicating that he had the floor with a small wave of his hand. Guillermo gave him a nod in return. It was a rare occasion when he had time to voice his concerns during house meetings in the past but now things had changed. He wouldn’t waste this opportunity. 

“Lilith called me.” He ignored the low hiss from Nadja at the mere mention of Lilith’s name and continued. She must have been thrown a scowl of some kind from Nandor considering she didn’t go off on a tangent about Lilith and witches. “She told us she heard the news through some paranormal radio station.” 

He gave them a brief run through of what Lilith had said on the phone, that vampires and other members of the paranormal community were vanishing all over the city. There would be a radio waiting for them to pick up tomorrow and when he was finished, he took in the varying grim frowns. The worst reaction oddly came from Laszlo, that is if he didn’t count Nandor running out of the kitchen, screaming for the rest of the house’s occupants. Laszlo was standing near the closest paper mache covered window, gazing out into the backyard at nothing and clutching the back of an armchair so tightly his knuckles turned white.

“Now we know why we didn’t see anyone else,” Laszlo murmured quietly, turning away from the window to face Nandor as he spoke. “The disappearances must have spooked enough vampires into staying off the streets.”

“That is what I was thinking,” Nandor agreed, sharing a fretted look with Laszlo. “Tomorrow when Guillermo goes to do his check-ins with Corvus, it would be best if we all went along. I don’t really feel comfortable staying apart for all too long and we are safer together.” Nandor nodded, looking around the room at everyone gathered together. “So we will all be going with Guillermo.”

Guillermo stood at Nandor’s side - just as he always had - with bated breath, waiting for anyone to react poorly to Nandor’s decision for the house. Sure enough, Nadja was the first to object. Her posture was positively bristling and huffed in indignation. 

“I am not going. And neither is Laszlo.” 

“Now hold on, my darling. I never said that.”

Nadja turned to her husband, speaking in a manner that left little room for an argument, and gave him an imploring look. “We are not going. Darling, Lilith keeps that man’s consort. Who knows what goes on in there. I will not have us being tricked into another den of thieving witchery and semen stealing.”

He really had to resist the urge to roll his eyes in front of everyone. Doing so would only irk Nadja even more than she already was, but the annoyance on his face must have been evident enough for Nadja to round on him without waiting for a word from Laszlo.

“I see you, Guillermo, over there and making your irritated faces at me. I can already see Lilith has gotten to you. Witches! First they steal your human love, then your husband - twice! - and your housemate and now our familiar!”

This time Guillermo did roll his eyes. He hadn’t been included - Nandor had insisted that he get a much needed nap instead - but there had been a brief house meeting on his new standing in the house not long ago. He wasn’t Nandor’s familiar anymore nor was he anyone else’s familiar either. They hadn’t really reached a decision on what his role was now, whether it was bodyguard or simply a housemate, but Nandor had taken plenty of time to stress Guillermo would not be living with them as a familiar from that day forward. 

“Okay, first of all, I’m not a familiar anymore.” Guillermo sighed heavily and sank down onto the couch. He just wanted to go back to his pizza while it was still warm, not get into an argument with Nadja. “I’m pretty sure Nandor went over that with you guys last week so please don’t call me that anymore. Secondly, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, but please shut up about how much you hate Lilith.” The effect of his words was instantaneous. Nadja let out disgusted scoff, her jaw falling open in a glare of contempt at the way Guillermo was speaking. “I don’t know what happened between you guys but you’re acting like I can’t pick out good from bad people.” 

And it was true. No matter what the context was, the second Lilith or Corvus were brought up, Nadja would fly into one of her tangents about how malicious and untrustworthy witches were. Guillermo didn’t understand it. Nadja didn’t act this way towards anyone else, especially with werewolves, a group she had an explicit dislike for. Something had to have happened between the two women for Nadja to be reacting this way. 

“Guillermo, I have told you time after time. You must be careful around witches. You shouldn’t trust them! You cannot trust a thing they say!”

Guillermo knew he shouldn’t push the reason behind Nadja’s disdain for Lilith but he was tired and hungry and done with this argument. He knew he was probably overstepping his bounds but he was just about done hearing another rant about someone who had been nothing but kind to him, someone who had helped them all even when she didn’t have to.

“You know Nadja, for someone who says they hate witches and magic so much, you sure do own a lot of occult stuff. The crystal balls, the tarot cards, the eye painted on your floor, your creepy _talking_ doll. So is it _we_ can’t trust witches or is it _you_ don’t trust Lilith?”

Nadja didn’t do anything at first. She didn’t speak and she didn’t move. She simply looked at Guillermo with a blank expression and slowly blinked at him but it didn’t last. In an instant, her eyes darkened and she leered at him with a furious scowl, a low rumbling growl building deep in her throat before it exploded in an infuriated hiss as she launched herself at him. Guillermo leapt to his feet and vaulted over the back of the couch, intending on putting Nandor’s desk between himself and the furious snarling vampire.

The fancy room exploded into chaos and noise. The couch tipped over from the force of Guillermo throwing himself over it, slamming into the floor with a loud crash that would have almost certainly broken a bone if he had been caught beneath it. Both Laszlo and Colin were shouting but their voices were lost in the cacophony of snarls that erupted, hurting Guillermo’s ears. His feet had barely touched the floor when he felt another body force itself between himself and Nadja, pushing him just out of her reach. 

Nandor stood before Guillermo, firmly planting himself in place and staying still like a rock bracing itself against the crashing sea. Laszlo had his arms tightly wrapped around Nadja’s middle in an attempt to pull her away, murmuring words in her ear that Guillermo couldn’t hear as Colin stood off to the side, looking mildly surprised at the spat taking place in front of him. The pair faced off against each other, barely an inch apart from each other’s faces, hissing not unlike a couple of cats right before breaking out into a fight. 

During the alley skirmish, Guillermo could barely see Nandor’s face. But now, under the glow of the lamps and fireplace, he could make out every detail and it sent a chill down his spine. Nandor’s pupils had blown out, and the rim of his irises were a soft golden color, leaving very little of their original brown behind. His fangs had elongated along with a few other teeth and Guillermo could make out the claws that had replaced his fingernails. He towered over Nadja, who appeared quite the same as Nandor apart from the row of elongated teeth, and he stood his ground, taking a few steps forward to force Nadja back. With another loud spitting hiss from Nandor, Nadja backed away from him, the details on her face and eyes returning to normal. Nandor gave one last rumbling warning growl as Guillermo stood there, stunned that Nandor had come to his defense in this way not once but twice. If Guillermo ever had any doubts about Nandor’s former life as a warrior, they had quickly been put to rest by the events in the alley and they certainly were silenced tonight. 

“Sort out your feud with Lilith, Nadja.” Nandor spoke with the same rumbling growl lacing his voice. Nothing about his appearance or demeanor had changed as he stared Nadja down. “It is growing tiresome and petty and you’re being rude to Guillermo. And you will be doing the tagging along with us tomorrow. This is not up for a negotiation, alright? No one stays anywhere alone.”

Nadja didn’t respond, still openly glaring back at Nandor and baring her fangs at him as she hissed softly one more time before she turned away from them. She abruptly shook Laszlo off and swiftly left the room but not before throwing one last seething glare at Guillermo as the curtain fell back into place behind her.

Guillermo let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and let his shoulders relax, although it did nothing to settle the adrenaline that was coursing through him now. An awkward heaviness settled in the air with no one wanting to be the first one to speak after the near shitshow Nandor had put a stop to. His former master turned to him. The fierce, golden eyes were gone, but Guillermo couldn’t help the shiver that ran down his back as Nandor gently touched his wrist, a sharp contrast to the battle ready state his hands had been in just seconds before.

“Guillermo, if you want to go and finish the cheesy breads, you can. We’re about finished here anyway. And if Nadja bothers you…”

He felt another shiver run through him, breathing out a shaky sigh and swallowing thickly. “I can handle myself. You know that, right? You really didn’t need to-”

“No but…” Nandor trailed off, his now brown eyes flitting through a range of emotions until he shut them and shook his head, not noticing Laszlo and Colin giving him a peculiar, puzzled look. “It doesn’t matter. Go and have your cheesy breads.” 

With one last approving nod from Nandor, Guillermo gave in. His growling stomach won out despite his itch to hear the conversation that would no doubt start once he was out of earshot. He tiptoed his way through the three vampires, Laszlo hurriedly sidestepping out of his way, and made for the kitchen. And just as he thought, he could faintly hear whispering as he walked down the hall past Nandor’s crypt and back to his unfinished meal. As he tossed his plate into the microwave, he made a mental note to himself to get Corvus alone tomorrow. Maybe he knew why Lilith and Nadja hated each other so much. He wanted to find out one way or the other.

* * *

This wasn’t supposed to have been part of her schedule tonight. None of this was. She was supposed to be back home by now, not stuck at the Council headquarters in America, trapped in her office by the overwhelming flood of paperwork and reports that had piled up on her desk. And then there were the missing vampires reports. Those were pouring in for the ninth straight day in a row. Vampires were disappearing all over the city, without a trace and - in most cases - without any sign of a struggle. They were heard from one night and mysteriously vanished into thin air the next. It didn’t help that the local community was in a growing state of fear and panic, calling on the Vampiric Council to do something about this, to find the culprit behind these disappearances. Many were claiming the familiar who went on the homicidal rampage at the theatre to save his master was the one behind all of this. It didn’t matter to them if other parts of the supernatural community were also suffering through disappearances of their own. Her community had decided on a culprit long ago and it was someone in that familiar’s household. 

The incident from a few weeks back wasn’t helping matters. A number of the Council guards were murdered in an alley, supposedly by the very same familiar and his master. yYet for some reason they had chosen to flee from the surviving guards instead of finishing the job. It didn’t sit well with her. Why would they run if the guards had been ambushed in that alley like it said here in the report laid out in front of her? Something wasn’t adding up and it was casting the first doubt in her mind that maybe, just maybe, they were getting wrong information. 

Tilda held in a sigh as she massaged her temple with a finger, trying to stifle her mounting headache as she listened to her old friend voice his concerns over the phone. He had insisted on calling tonight, citing some worry or another about not wanting to hold this conversation over the internet out of fear of being spied on. While she didn’t quite understand that, what she did understand was his fear once he had learned vampires were disappearing. Not only that but Council members were now missing as well, three of them as a matter of fact. Kiefer, Robert and Danny were all missing as of four days ago. While she had been in frequent contact with her friend before council members began to go missing, their talks were now a constant presence throughout each day. Not that she minded. She had missed her old friend and understood his concerns.

 _“This just isn’t normal, Tilda.”_ Her friend’s voice came through the rather ancient headphones she was wearing, leaving her hands free to dig through files and reports as needed. His rich Romanian accent trembled with an animated yet deeply worrisome tone as he spoke. _“First this familiar goes on a bloodthirsty frenzy at the theatre, then the alley, but you’re telling me you don’t think he’s behind all of this? How can you possibly say that?”_

“Because it doesn’t add up.” Tilda twirled an old fountain pen in her hands as she spoke. The crackle of the fireplace was the only other sound in the room and the cozy fire cast a warm glow over the room, casting dancing shadows on the walls as the flames flickered in the hearth. “He broke into the theatre and started killing vampires. That much I will admit is true. But he let his double go and he didn’t chase down anyone who fled into the streets. He only killed those who came too close to him. That is what Vladislav and the other guards reported to me. So if this familiar is a potential slayer, as you believe he is, why would he knowingly let vampires go? All the evidence points to him only breaking in to save his master and that’s all. They’ve hardly left their home since then.”

 _“But the alley! Why would he kill four guards if he wasn’t a slayer? And quite brutally too, I might add.”_

“You and I both know Gareth isn’t the best at negotiations. He’s good at his job but he can be a bit...overenthusiastic at times. Perhaps Nandor and his familiar misheard something and responded accordingly.”

 _“They could be or the familiar is exactly the danger I warned you of.”_ The man sighed on the other end of the line, his voice trembling with consternation. _“I’m telling you. That familiar is involved with these disappearances somehow. His master was sentenced to death twice and now Council members are disappearing. He could be targeting the Council now in order to protect his master. Why else would vampires be disappearing?”_

“Did you forget the other communities are suffering through the same thing right now? Their members are disappearing too or have you forgotten that?” Tilda gently reminded her friend. “Why would a vampire slayer be targeting everyone else, Alecander?”

There was a moment's pause and she knew Alecander was thinking over what she had said. He had always been a practical man, one who sat and carefully analyzed every situation before making a judgement call. His calculating yet exceedingly careful nature was one of the many reasons why she had nominated him to join the Vampiric Council all those centuries ago. He had turned down the nomination to everyone’s great disappointment but she had understood his reasons, respected them really. Being a member of the Vampiric Council, even being a guard, required a lot of traveling time and Alecander was still attached to the old world even after all these years. 

_“What if...now I am just speculating here...but what if the other communities are working with this slayer? What if they’re only making it appear as if their members are disappearing when in reality they are all working together?”_

“Why would they do that?”

_“To expose us to humans? To remove us out of the picture? I don’t know. But it’s worth considering, is it not? After all, their leaders are not disappearing, just ours.”_

Tilda didn’t want to admit it but Alecander had a point. The vampiric community had tenuous relationships with the other communities at best. Sure, witches, ghouls and zombies were invited to the occasional gala, but outside of those parties, vampires didn’t interact much with the others. And werewolves? You could almost forget about a good relationship with the lycanthrope community. There had been bad blood between vampires and werewolves for so many centuries, no one could pinpoint the exact cause of the centuries old feud. 

“I’ll consider it for the time being unless our evidence proves otherwise.” 

_“So what about the council?”_ Alecander asked slowly. _“It needs to be at its full strength, Tilda. That can’t happen with missing members and vacant seats. And what of the familiar? What if he truly is responsible for these disappearances? What then? He nearly killed Gareth and the other two guards.”_

Tilda could hear the growing discontent in his voice. She had always been impressed by the concern and care Alecander had shown for their community time and time again. It went above what some of the current council members showed sometimes. “I promise we will get to the bottom of this, Alecander. The Council is meeting in a few days to discuss what to do next.”

She listened to him sigh deeply in relief and express his gratitude towards her and she wondered...should she once again extend an invitation to join the Council? It couldn’t hurt. Alecander did show more concern for the wellbeing of their community now than he had back when she had first asked him.

“Speaking of the vacant seats, I was wondering,” she hesitated, part of her wondering if Alecander would reject the nomination again. “Alecander, I know I asked this of you before, but would you reconsider accepting my nomination for the council?”

Now there was a heavy silence from Alecander. She knew he had heard her - heightened senses and all - but his silence did make her wonder. 

_“Tilda, I don’t know. The others are still missing. It doesn’t feel right to take their place, knowing they could still be alive out there.”_

“Just until Kiefer, Robert or Danny can be located or - if the worst should happen - would you consider taking their place? We could use your help right now.”

Alecander was silent for another few moments, then he spoke again with an air of focused determination. _“If it can help find those who are missing and bring the culprit to justice, I would be honored, Tilda.”_

Tilda smiled to herself and set down the fountain pen. She would retrieve the required paperwork the moment she hung up the phone, but first she had to go through the formality of officially extending the invitation. She called in the head of the guard, Lucian, from where he stood watch outside her door to witness the first step in the nomination process and when the door was closed again, she placed the phone on speaker and gladly recited the words. “Alecander Cel Tradat, I hereby formally extend an invitation to join the Vampiric Council. Do you accept my nomination?” 

_“I do, Tilda. I will do my duty and everything in my power to keep our community safe. You have my word.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I appreciate every kudos and comment you guys leave.
> 
> Next chapter: Guillermo and the vamps visit Corvus' home and shop. There they receive the radio and learn more about the plague doctor as well as the disappearances.


End file.
